Japanese vehicle battery manufacturer GS Yuasa inaugurated a 9 billion-forint (EUR 26.9m) lithium battery plant in Miskolc, in north-eastern Hungary, on Tuesday.
The Hungarian government supported the investment with a 465-million-forint grant, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign affairs and trade minister, said at the ceremony. He called the automotive sector the “backbone” of the Hungarian economy, noting that it employs some 175,000 people.
The GS Yuasa Corporation’s Hungarian subsidiary was incorporated in 2017. Construction on its 60,000 sqm plant started last March. The investment created 51 jobs.
GS Yuasa Corporation employs some 15,000 workers in 17 countries.
Concerning Hungarian-Japanese economic relations, Szijjártó said Japan was the seventh largest investor in Hungary. He added that there are 160 Japanese businesses in Hungary employing some 34,000 workers. Bilateral trade turnover exceeded 2.2 billion dollars last year, a 3.3 percent increase over 2017, the minister said.
