South Korea said Wednesday it will allocate 23 billion won ($20.6 million) to build testing infrastructure for local producers of materials and parts for rechargeable batteries in line with its efforts to foster the sector as a new growth engine.

The test center will allow small and midsized businesses to run tests on their materials used to produce battery products with high-end infrastructure, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

The ministry said it has decided to establish a new facility as the country lacks infrastructure to run large batteries used for electric vehicles for energy storage units.

South Korea's exports of rechargeable batteries reached $7.5 billion in 2020, up 1.3 percent on-year. Last year, the country's outbound shipments came to $512.8 billion, down 5.4 percent from 2019.

The growth mainly came amid the rising demand for electric vehicles from the United States and the European Union. Strong global sales of smartphones and laptops also have contributed to the robust performance. (Yonhap)