South Korean Battery Parts Manufacturer Expands into Hungary
Electric car manufacturers are targeting countries that draw significant investments as the “winners” of the new economic world order, according to Péter Szijjártó, the minister of foreign affairs and trade. Szijjártó announced that South Korean Sang-A Frontec’s plant expansion, which produces plastic parts for electric vehicle batteries, received a HUF 1.4 billion (EUR 3.7 million) government grant and will create 55 new jobs. He added that South Korean companies are the fourth-largest group of investors in Hungary, with bilateral trade rising to nearly USD 7 billion in 2020, representing a 37% increase. Minister Szijjártó believes that strengthening rural areas and the agriculture industry bring prosperity to the whole country. A secure food supply is a matter of national security, as evidenced during the coronavirus pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. Hungary can currently provide fresh and safe food to twice its population. The government is aiming to create a society based on a “functional division of labor” between rural and urban areas, according to Agriculture Minister István Nagy.
