The three top battery manufacturers in South Korea will have to increase the prices of their products soon because the cost of raw materials from China has skyrocketed since the beginning of last year. South Korea’s output of rechargeable batteries comprises nearly half of the global production, but the country’s key battery materials are heavily dependent on imports, especially rare earths and other raw materials from China. South Korea’s three leading battery manufacturers—LG Energy Solution, SK Innovation, and Samsung SDI—have all issued notices of price hikes. LG Energy Solution plans to increase the price of cylindrical cells by 10 percent in January 2022. Previously, Samsung SDI’s 21700 cylindrical cells, one of the most commonly used models, increased by over 7 percent in November. An insider in the industry recently told The Korea Economic Daily that as Chinese companies continue to increase the prices of raw materials, Korean companies have no …