In 2021, South Korea was the largest investor in Hungary with HUF 1,000 billion (EUR 2.5 billion) worth of investments.Continue reading
On Thursday, Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy received in his office Geun Ki Mun, Deputy Director of the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Korea, Soo Chul Park, Managing Director of SungEel HiTech Europe and SungEel HiTech Hungary, and Dong Wook Chu, Director of SungEel Hitech Hungary.
At the meeting, the parties reviewed the international situation of the battery industry related to the electric vehicle industry, the challenges facing the sector and the opportunities for a green transition, pointed out the Ministry for National Economy.
The South Korean SungEel HiTech Group operates nine plants worldwide and works with over twenty-five international partners, writes Magyar Nemzet.
The company employs more than 200 people at two sites in Hungary.
A leader in lithium-ion battery recycling, the company launched its waste recycling business in 2000. SungEel succeeded for the first time in recovering large quantities of raw materials from used lithium-ion batteries. In addition to recycling batteries, the company actively promotes the use of sustainable, environmentally friendly battery recycling technologies and strives to increase the proportion of recyclable materials in batteries.
Minister Márton Nagy. Photo via MTI/Balogh Zoltán
At the meeting, Márton Nagy stressed that green energy, electric cars are the future, a key sector of the green, circular economy, and without a competitive battery industry, it is unthinkable. Hungary has taken timely action in this area and secured its place among the winners of the green transition.
Hungary is the meeting point between Western and Eastern capital and technologies, combining top-quality German car manufacturing with the most advanced Chinese and Korean battery production, while Chinese electric car manufacturer BYD is also setting up a factory in the country, the first in Europe. Hungary is already at the forefront of high-tech battery manufacturing, with exports of batteries and battery components already exceeding 5 percent of GDP, making it the EU’s leading producer.
The minister added that he considers it important to establish contacts with companies such as SungEel because battery processing is currently a missing industry in Hungary.
In order to accelerate the take-up of electric cars, it is necessary to assess how the domestic battery industry can contribute.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured image via Facebook/SungEel HiTech Hungary