JAKARTA (Reuters) – South Korea’s LG group remains committed to Indonesia and will increase its investment in a battery cell factory by $1.7 billion, raising total investment in the project to $2.8 billion, Indonesia’s investment minister said on Tuesday.
The comment from minister Rosan Roeslani follows confirmation last week that LG Energy Solution, or LGES, has withdrawn from another venture in Indonesia, a 142 trillion rupiah ($8.46 billion) project in the EV battery supply chain, citing market conditions and the investment environment.
“The commitment from LG remains big, a concrete example is that they will invest in the development of this JV,” he told a press conference, referring to a battery plant in West Java.
LG last week said it will continue its investment in a battery joint venture, HLI Green Power, led by LGES and Hyundai Motor Group.
LGES did not immediately respond to request for comment on Tuesday.
Last year the JV inaugurated Indonesia’s first battery cell production plant with an annual capacity of 10 gigawatt hours and said will embark on second phase of investment.
China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt will replace LGES in the project from which it has withdrawn, Indonesia has said.
($1 = 16,792.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Martin Petty)
