Battery material maker EcoPro BM said it plans to restart its cathode plant next month that had halted production due to an explosion back in January.
CAM4, a production line at its Ochang plant that wasn’t affected by the explosion, will start operations mid-March, the company said in a conference call with investors.
EcoPro BM also said that while it will close down CAM4-N, which has been affected by the fire, it will work to increase operation rates of its CAM5-N and CAM6 lines at its other plant at Pohang.
The company is also planning to announce the cause of the explosion at CAM4-N within this month at the earliest, it added.
CAM5-N supplies its cathode to South Korean battery maker SK On, while CAM6, which is run by EcoPro BM’s joint venture with Samsung SDI EcoPro EM, supplies the materials to Samsung SDI.
Despite the explosion at Ochang, from this ramp-up plan, EcoPro BM has increased its annual production goal for 2026 to 550,000 metric tonnes from its previous 480,000 metric tonnes.
However, South Korean analysts expect EcoPro BM to see a drop in profitability due to increase fixed costs that it needs to spend to ramp up production in other facilities besides the one affected by the fire.
