LG Energy Solution, South Korea’s leading battery maker, said its sales revenue is projected to dip 30 percent to 6.16 trillion won in the second-quarter of 2024 from 8.77 trillion won.
LG Energy Solution will release its final earnings report on July 25.
LG Energy Solution said its second-quarter operating profit dropped 58 percent from a year earlier due to slowing sales of electric vehicles.
LG Energy Solution said operating profit for the three months ended in June is estimated to have plummeted to 195.3 billion won (US$142 million) from 460.6 billion won in the same period of last year.
“Decreased lithium and other metal prices weighed on EV battery prices, and lower demand from automakers resulted in the decline in profit,” LG Energy Solution said.
LG Energy Solution sees the global EV markets in a stagnation phase. The company said it will focus on strengthening its competitiveness as a car battery supplier despite the temporary slowdown in EV demand.
Early this month, LGES signed a deal with Renault S.A. to supply lithium iron phosphate (LFP) pouch-type batteries for the French carmaker’s EV models for five years through 2030.
It is the company’s first large-scale supply deal of LFP EV batteries, whose market has been dominated by non-Korean manufacturers. The batteries will be produced at LGES’ Poland plant.
LG Energy Solution will change some of the battery production lines in its global plants for production of energy storage systems (ESS), whose demand is on the rise, Yonhap news agency said.
In North America, LG Energy Solution currently operates three battery cell plants — the first and second plants under the JV with General Motors, and one in Holland, Michigan. Plants under JVs with GM, Hyundai Motor Group, Honda Motor Co. and Stellantis are being constructed in the U.S. states of Michigan, Georgia and Ohio, as well as Ontario, Canada, respectively.
In other regions, LG Energy Solution has plants in South Korea, Poland and China, with a plant set to start production in Indonesia in the second half of 2024.