In addition to the Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) , the Korean consortium led by LG, the world's second-largest battery manufacturer, recently invested and arranged a battery supply chain project worth about US $9 billion (about RMB 57.28 billion) in Indonesia. At present, it has signed a preliminary agreement with Indonesian state-owned enterprises.
According to Yonhap, a Korean consortium composed of LG new energy, LG Chemical and LG Cecep Solar Energy Co.Ltd(000591) signed a non binding investment framework agreement with Indonesian mining companies Pt Aneka tambang (antam) and Indonesian battery company (IBC) in Indonesia on April 14. Government officials from the Ministry of investment and the Ministry of state owned enterprises of Indonesia also attended the signing ceremony.
LG new energy said that the project of cooperation with Indonesia aims to establish an "end-to-end value chain" for electric vehicle batteries, including the procurement of raw materials, the production of key battery components (precursor and cathode materials, etc.) and the manufacture of power batteries. "We hope that through this project, we can ensure the stable supply of battery raw materials, so as to improve the competitiveness and profitability of its battery business." LG new energy said.
Indonesia is the country with the richest nickel resources in the world and the largest nickel producer in the world. According to the data of the U.S. Geological Survey, the world nickel resource reserves in 2020 were about 94 million tons, of which Indonesia ranked first, about 21 million tons, accounting for 22%.
Source: US Geological Survey (USGS)
Nickel is a key raw material for the production of stainless steel and ternary lithium batteries. The so-called ternary lithium battery refers to the "ternary precursor" composed of nickel, cobalt and manganese in the cathode of lithium battery. Due to the performance advantages of nickel in improving battery energy density, high nickel battery is gradually becoming an important development direction of ternary lithium battery.
With the transformation and upgrading of global energy and the continuous improvement of carbon emission requirements, the new energy vehicle industry continues to have a high outlook, and the demand for power batteries and battery raw material metals increases greatly. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Japan's largest metal smelter, said recently that due to the strong demand for electric vehicles, the global demand for nickel for batteries is expected to increase by more than 20% this year, rising from nearly 330000 tons in 2021 to more than 410000 tons in 2022.
At present, the price of lithium carbonate, the core raw material of battery, has continued to rise for 16 months, and the price has increased nearly 10 times. Since this year, the prices of important metal materials such as nickel and cobalt have also shown a continuous upward trend. With the continuous rise in the price of upstream raw materials and the imbalance between supply and demand, the new energy industry is facing the dual pressure of supply shortage and rising costs. It has become the consensus of major power battery manufacturers around the world to ensure the stability of the supply chain through the layout of overseas mineral resources.
On April 15, the global power battery leader Contemporary Amperex Technology Co.Limited(300750) announced to invest nearly US $4 billion (about RMB 25 billion) in Indonesia to build the power battery industry chain project through its subsidiary. The partners are Pt Aneka tambang (antam) and Pt industri baterai Indonesia (IBI). At present, the total investment of the project has been determined to be no more than US $5.968 billion (about RMB 38.02 billion), and the planned construction cycle is five years.
