South Korean Battery Copper Foil Makers See Q2 Rebound, Boosted by Global Demand Recovery
According to The Chosun Ilbo, driven by a recovery in North American energy storage (ESS) and European EV demand, the Q2 capacity utilization rates of South Korea’s three leading battery copper foil enterprises—SK Nexilis, Lotte Energy Materials, and Solus Advanced Materials—rebounded markedly, and expanding order volumes helped improve profitability. SK Nexilis’ capacity utilization rate rose from 69.6% in Q1 to 75.7% in Q2, with quarterly sales reaching a record high of 254.0 billion won; Lotte Energy Materials’ utilization rate rose from 66.6% to 72.1%, with Q2 sales of 19.42 billion won, up 21% MoM; Solus Advanced Materials’ Hungary plant utilization rate increased from 47% to 67%, and its copper foil segment posted Q2 sales of 7.5 billion won, up 22% MoM. The three copper foil producers expected factory operating rates to rise further in H2. Under constraints from the US AMPC policy, export orders continued to shift to South Korean enterprises, and South Korea has become the only region outside China with large-scale battery copper foil capacity.