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battery materials producers expand overseas with Hungary, South Korea deals","chinese-battery-materials-producers-expand-overseas-with-hungary-south-korea-deals","article/chinese-battery-materials-producers-expand-overseas-with-hungary-south-korea-deals",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":576,"content":586,"excerpt":720,"featured":50,"reporter":721,"_editable":725,"component":726,"seo_title":553,"categories":727,"visibility":737,"author_company":49,"featured_image":738,"seo_description":720,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":743,"formattedArticleDate":744},"202ee7dc-fabc-4121-91dc-766e77682aa2","2023-06-23 00:00",[560,562,564,567,570,573],{"slug":561,"name":263},"anode",{"slug":563,"name":563},"cathode",{"slug":565,"name":566},"china","China",{"slug":568,"name":569},"hungary","Hungary",{"slug":571,"name":572},"precursor-material","precursor material",{"slug":574,"name":575},"south-korea","South Korea",[577],{"slug":578,"name":579,"content":580},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":581,"image":582,"bio":584,"linkedin":585},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":583},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":587,"content":588},"doc",[589,596,601,606,611,616,621,626,631,638,643,648,653,658,663,668,673,678,683,688,693,698,703,711,714,717],{"type":590,"attrs":591,"content":592},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[593],{"text":594,"type":595},"Chinese battery material producers continue their expansion overseas with two deals this week for new cathode plants in Hungary and South Korea.","text",{"type":590,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":595},"Huayou Cobalt announced on 21 June it will invest $1.5 billion into what could become one of Hungary’s first cathode facilities. It is its first investment into an industrial project located in Europe.",{"type":590,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":595},"The same day, South Korean steel firm Posco and Chinese cathode precursor maker CNGR announced a joint venture for a 110,000 tonne a year capacity precursor cathode active material (pCAM) plant in South Korea alongside a 50ktpa nickel sulphate refinery.",{"type":590,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609],{"text":610,"type":595},"The deals highlight the rapid expansion overseas of Chinese battery materials companies, who already dominate global production of precursors and cathode materials. That could make it harder for US and European companies to compete in markets outside of China. ",{"type":590,"attrs":612,"content":613},{"textAlign":49},[614],{"text":615,"type":595},"The Posco-CNGR deal is the third deal involving a Chinese battery materials company in South Korea this year. ",{"type":590,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":595},"Between 2023 and 2032, the share of cathode active materials made in China is only set to fall from 79% of global supply to 71%, as assessed by Benchmark. Over the same period output from Chinese-owned plants outside China is expected to increase twenty-fold. ",{"type":590,"attrs":622,"content":623},{"textAlign":49},[624],{"text":625,"type":595},"Chinese firms are particularly well-poised to capture a large share of the cathode market in Europe, where there is a deficit of supply, according to Benchmark.",{"type":590,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":595},"Greater Chinese involvement also poses security risks at a time when relations between China and western-allied nations are deteriorating, raising questions around the balance between economic and national security as countries build battery capacity in partnership with geopolitical rivals.",{"type":632,"attrs":633,"content":635},"heading",{"level":634,"textAlign":49},4,[636],{"text":637,"type":595},"Huayou Cobalt’s first European project",{"type":590,"attrs":639,"content":640},{"textAlign":49},[641],{"text":642,"type":595},"Huayou, China’s largest cobalt producer, announced that it would build a high-nickel cathode project in Hungary at a ceremony in the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 21 June. The event was attended by Hungarian minister of foreign affairs Péter Szijjártó.",{"type":590,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":595},"Huayou stated that the plant will count battery makers CATL, EVE Energy Co., Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), and LG Energy Solution as customers. The materials could also end up in vehicles produced by BMW, Volkswagen and Renault, it said. ",{"type":590,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":595},"Huayou Cobalt currently has no operating cathode plants but does have two pipeline projects in China with a combined capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year. ",{"type":590,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":595},"Hungary is investing heavily into its EV supply chain and has already attracted significant investment from battery producers to set up gigafactories, including CATL and SK Innovation.",{"type":590,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661],{"text":662,"type":595},"Hungary has also been unusually active among the EU member states in strengthening economic ties with China as the economic bloc comes under pressure from the US to tighten foreign investment oversight. ",{"type":590,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[666],{"text":667,"type":595},"Under the Viktor Orban government, Hungary became the first European participant in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and joined the 16+1 cooperation framework for China and Central and Eastern European countries.",{"type":632,"attrs":669,"content":670},{"level":634,"textAlign":49},[671],{"text":672,"type":595},"Posco and CNGR sign South Korean joint venture ",{"type":590,"attrs":674,"content":675},{"textAlign":49},[676],{"text":677,"type":595},"On the same day as Huayou’s announcement, Posco Future M Co. and Posco Holdings, owned by South Korean steel company Posco Group, unveiled a joint venture agreement with Chinese cathode producer CNGR to build two South Korean nickel sulphate and pCAM plants. The deal is worth 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion).",{"type":590,"attrs":679,"content":680},{"textAlign":49},[681],{"text":682,"type":595},"Posco Holdings and CNGR will own 60% and 40% of the nickel sulphate plant respectively. 20% of the precursor plant will go to Posco and the remainder to CNGR.",{"type":590,"attrs":684,"content":685},{"textAlign":49},[686],{"text":687,"type":595},"CNGR is a lithium ion battery cathode precursor maker while Posco is already an established player in cathode active materials, operating a plant in Tongxiang, China as well as three in South Korea. ",{"type":590,"attrs":689,"content":690},{"textAlign":49},[691],{"text":692,"type":595},"South Korea, itself a major battery materials producer, has been a major target of foreign investment by Chinese companies, with two other major joint ventures announced this year. ",{"type":590,"attrs":694,"content":695},{"textAlign":49},[696],{"text":697,"type":595},"In March 2023, South Korean EV battery maker SK On and China’s GEM agreed to build a 50, 000 tonne precursor plant. The following month, Huayou announced a joint venture deal with South Korea’s LG Chem to build a $923 million precursor plant, its second in the country.",{"type":590,"attrs":699,"content":700},{"textAlign":49},[701],{"text":702,"type":595},"Partnerships like this will likely be crucial in supporting the South Korean government’s plans to boost EV battery production. In late 2022, it committed 350 billion won ($267 million) to make the domestic sector more competitive with China’s, announcing a further 20 trillion won (£15.1 billion) for battery innovation and manufacturing in April 2023.",{"type":590,"attrs":704,"content":705},{"textAlign":49},[706],{"text":707,"type":595,"marks":708},"Correction: the article originally stated that Huayou Cobalt had three existing pipeline projects for cathode material production, prior to the announcement of its Hungary investment. This has been corrected to two. The article also gave a 240, 000 tonne per annum figure for Huayou’s existing cathode pipeline capacity. This has also been corrected, to 500, 000 tonnes per annum.",[709],{"type":710},"italic",{"type":590,"attrs":712,"content":713},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":590,"attrs":715,"content":716},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":590,"attrs":718,"content":719},{"textAlign":49},[],"Chinese battery material producers continue their expansion overseas with two deals this week for new cathode plants in Hungary and South Korea. Huayou Cobalt announced on 21 June it will invest $1.5 billion into what could become one of Hungary’s first cathode facilities. It is its first investment into an industrial project located in Europe. […]",[722],{"slug":578,"name":579,"content":723},{"job_title":581,"image":724,"bio":584,"linkedin":585},{"filename":583},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"202ee7dc-fabc-4121-91dc-766e77682aa2\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[728,731,732,735],{"slug":729,"name":730},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":563,"name":299},{"slug":733,"name":734},"geopolitics","Geopolitics",{"slug":736,"name":150},"nickel","private",{"id":49,"alt":739,"name":739,"focus":739,"title":739,"source":739,"filename":740,"copyright":739,"fieldtype":741,"meta_data":742,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/78e4f6ff5b/bm-shutterstock-2114296142.jpg","asset",{"alt":739,"title":739,"source":739,"copyright":739},"Jun 23, 2023","23rd June 2023",[],[],1792688581834]