SEOUL, KOREA- Despite the news yesterday that LG Chem's lithium-ion battery plant in Holland, Michigan, will be shut down for weeks, its share price has kept going up for nine days in a row. At 9:05 am on September 10, the shares of LG Chem were traded at 309,000 won, up 0.49 percent from the previous day's 307,500 won.

 

Earlier on the 9th, the company said its Michigan electric car battery plant would go through a voluntary inspection for six weeks after a request by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to report all chemical materials being handled in the plant.

 

Yoon Jae-sung, analyst with Daeshin Securities, said, "LG Chem was going to ship the batteries produced in the Michigan plant to GM for the hybrid electric car Chevrolet Volt. Instead, it will deliver the batteries directly from the Ochang plant in Korea."

 

"Although the latest share price increase of LG Chem was partially due to growth expectations on the mid- and large-scale rechargeable battery market, a larger part was owing to expectations of recovery in the chemical industry. Given 75 percent of LG Chem's sales revenue comes from chemical products rather than rechargeable batteries, you should look harder into what's going on in its chemical division."