Hungarian minister talks about a new, dangerous industry in Hungary: processing batteries

Márton Nagy, the national economy minister, has met executives of SK ON Hungary and CATL Debrecen, two of the leading international battery manufacturing companies.

At the talks in Budapest on Thursday with Cho Daehee, managing director of the Hungarian subsidiary of South Korea’s SK group, and Jason Chen, general manager of China’s CATL Europe Operations, they reviewed the battery industry from the point of view of the electric car manufacturing, with a focus on Europe. They also assessed challenges faced by the industry and opportunities provided by the green transition, Nagy’s ministry said in a statement.

SK ON Hungary, a unit of the SK group — one of South Korea’s three major corporations which ranks among the world’s top 100 international companies — employs more than 4,000 at its plants in Hungary’s Komarom and Ivancsa.

Established in 2011, CATL is one of the world’s major battery companies with its close to 40 percent share held in the global market of batteries produced for electric vehicles. CATL, a market leader over the past 7 consecutive years, is set to employ more than 3,000 people at its plant in Debrecen, Hungary’s second largest city located in the east of the country.

Photo: facebook.com/drpappl

The statement quoted Nagy as saying at the meeting that the future was in green energy and electromobility, industries that would be at the forefront of the green circular economy, for which a competitive battery industry was essential.

“Hungary has acted in time and secured its place among the winners of green transition. The country now serves as a meeting point between Western and Eastern capital [investments] and technologies, twinning top-notch German car manufacturing with Chinese and Korean battery production.”

According to portfolio.hu, Márton Nagy highlighted that processing batteries on an industrial scale are not present in Hungary. Therefore, they should examine how players in the battery sector in Hungary could take part in it.

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