Samsung Fine Chemical begins work on battery material plant

SEOUL, Sept. 7 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Fine Chemicals Co., a unit of South Korea's Samsung Group, said Wednesday that it broke ground for a plant that produces materials used for lithium-ion secondary batteries.
Samsung Fine Chemical and Japan's Toda Corp. said earlier that they will invest 20 billion won (US$18.7 million) by 2012 and establish the 50-50 joint venture STM Co. The venture will produce nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NCM), active base materials used for producing rechargeable batteries.
The plant will be built within the premises of Samsung SDI Co.'s operations in Ulsan, some 414 kilometers south of Seoul, and will have an annual production capacity of 2,500 tons of NCM, Samsung Fine Chemical said.
Samsung SDI, a South Korean manufacturer of rechargeable batteries, expects that the plant will help the company strengthen its competitiveness in the market of materials for secondary batteries, officials said.
The lithium-ion battery market is growing fast on brisk demand for smartphones and tablet computers.
Shares of Samsung Fine Chemical were trading at 48,450 won on the Seoul bourse as of 11:20 a.m., up 2.11 percent.