LG Chem rewrote its history by posting the best-ever quarterly business performance for the 1st quarter of this year.

LG Chem logged 9.65 trillion won in sales and 1.408.1 trillion won in operating profit in 2021 Q1. The figures represent a 43.4 percent surge in sales and a 584 percent jump in operating profit compared to the same period last year.

It was the first time in its corporate history LG Chem, which chalked up the best-ever quarterly sales and operational profit, saw its operational profit surpass the 1 trillion threshold.

Explaining the earnings surprise, LG Chem CFO Cha Dong-seok said, “The reason is that LG Chem has laid foundation to yield a steady profit by restructuring its business structure and investing into new growth engines on a continuous basis.”

“LG Chem will strive to secure electronic materials such as cathode material and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as growth engines, aggressively investing into promising future ESG sectors such as recycling and bio materials, and pushing ahead with growth through collaboration with outside in earnest,” he said.

Looking into each business’s business performance, the petrochemical business logged 4.435.2 trillion won in sales and 983.8 billion won in operating profit. The business’s run was owed on the back of the booming upper-stream industries such as home appliances, medical products and construction materials.

The petrochemical business is predicted to post a steady performance in Q2 thanks to the operation of another cracker center at its plant in Yeosu, and a new capacity of producing value-added products, such as nitrile butadiene latex and CNTs.

The advanced material business also posted 1.171.9 trillion won in sales and 88.3 billion won in operating profit on the back of the expanded production of cathode materials and a recovery of demand for engineering plastic.

What is noteworthy is that LG Chem saw the energy solution business recorded the best-ever quarterly business performance.

The business chalked up 4.254.1 trillion won in 2021 Q1 sales and 341.2 billion won in operation profit on the back of expanded EV battery shipments and declining unit prices, coupled with an improved yield.

The outlook for Q2 is rosy as demand for EV batteries and cylinder batteries is on the rise on the back of a steady rise in EV sales.

The life science business logged 161.9 billion won in sales and 22.5 billion won in operational profit on the back of the growth of its antidiabetics drug, Zemiglo, and the growth hormone deficiency drug Europin.

The business is predicted to maintain growth momentum for a while as new polio vaccine products have been supplied.

Farm Hanong posted 210.9 billion won in sales and 29.7 billion won in operational profit in the first quarter, lower than the same period one year ago.

Even though Farm Hanong is burdened with rising unit prices, the company is forecast to improve its operational profit on the back of expanded sales of plant protection agents and value-added specialty fertilizers.

LG Chem and KIST Begin Joint Development of Carbon Neutral Technologies

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Yoon Seok-Jin) and LG Chem (Chief Executive Officer Shin Hak-cheol) have locked arms for the R&D and commercialization of breakthrough technologies essential for realizing carbon neutrality.

The two institutes announced that they signed an MOU for the joint R&D of relevant technologies such as carbon capture & utilization, hydrogen energy, the core technology for realizing carbon neutrality.

The MOU signing ceremony held at the Magok LG Science Park on the morning of the 29th was attended by figures including LG Chem CTO (Chief Technology Officer) and Executive Vice President Yu Ji-yung and KIST President Yoon Seok-Jin.

KIST is the only domestic research institute equipped with all of the CCU and hydrogen life cycle technologies that has been engaged in projects such as the Carbon to X Technological Development Project Team; Polyelectrolyte Multilayering (PEM) Electrolysis Core Platform Technology Research Team; and the LOHC-based Hydrogen Discharge System Platform Technology Development Research Team. They were supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

Based on its abundant research project commercialization experiences, LG Chem is a leader in commercialization technologies such as economic review, substantiation, and scale-up of carbon neutral technologies.

As the two institutes pursue joint R&D, it is expected that breakthrough technology development related to carbon neutrality will accelerate.