Asian Tech Press (Feb 7) -- The three major South Korean battery manufacturers have 30.4% of global market share in 2021, Yonhap News Agency reported Monday.

Citing data from market tracker SNE Research, the cumulative market share of LG Energy Solution. Ltd. (LGES), Samsung SDI Co and SK Innovation Co came to 30.4% in the January-December period, down 4.3 percentage points from the previous year.

LGES, which supplies electric vehicle batteries to Ford, Tesla and Volkswagen, retained second place for two consecutive years, but its market share fell 3.1 percentage points to 20.3%.

SK Innovation's battery-producing unit SK On ranked fifth with a 5.6% market share, up 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. And Samsung SDI dropped 1.3 percentage points to 4.5%, with its global ranking also coming down by one spot to sixth.

Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) retained the top spot with 32.6%, up 8 percentage points in the same period, backed by the strong growth in China's electric vehicle market. And CATL has maintained the top spot since 2017.

Japan's Panasonic came in third with 12.2%, followed by Chinese battery maker BYD with 8.8%.