Deploying overseas lithium resources again, CATL may reach cooperation with Arge

Home > Industry News > > Deploying overseas lithium resources again, CATL may reach cooperation with Arge

Time : 2022.04.15

With the tight supply and demand of lithium resources, its price has been rising, prompting many lithium battery[Neware battery tester to test batteries] manufacturers to step up the pace of lithium resources layout. Recently, an overseas news broke out that CATL and Argentina’s YPF company may reach a cooperation intention, so as to deploy high-grade lithium resources in the world and enhance their comprehensive competitiveness.

According to the Argentine government website, on November 25, Argentina’s state-controlled energy company YPF met with Chen Junwei, the representative of CATL, a leading brand in the lithium battery manufacturing industry.

As a well-known lithium mining company in Argentina, YPF not only focuses on oil and gas projects in the domestic Vaca Muerta shale formation, but also began to set foot in the field of lithium mining. Pablo González, president of YPF, said that at present, the company is exploring areas where there may be lithium mines such as Jujuy, Salta and Catamarca in Argentina, and is looking for partners to jointly invest in the mining of lithium mines, hoping to establish a good partnership with CATL.

Argentina is located in the "Lithium Triangle" of South America and has abundant lithium resources. The Argentine government hopes to maximize the advantages of lithium resources, and through the bridge role of YPF, let lithium resources play a more central role in the development of new energy vehicles.

Argentine Mining Minister Alberto Hensel agreed with the talks between the two parties. This cooperation agreement may be reached, which will be a new stage for its domestic lithium industry company YPF to enter the lithium field and promote YPF Lithium, a subsidiary of YPF. industry to achieve its aspirations to develop regional and resource potential. At the same time, CATL is the most important battery manufacturer in China. In the next few years, the demand for lithium will reach five times the production capacity of Argentina today. Because of this, it is particularly important to promote the cooperation between the two companies.

The purpose of CATL's trip to Argentina to inspect the salt marshes is to pay more attention to lithium resources. CATL said that the company hopes to obtain the support of the Argentine government and become a strategic partner of lithium resources with YPF.

As the world's largest manufacturer of power batteries for new energy vehicles, CATL has been focusing on the research, development, production and sales of new energy vehicle power battery systems and energy storage systems for many years, and is also involved in lithium metal mining.

Faced with the growing demand for lithium resources in the power battery industry, CATL has been trying to find opportunities to cooperate with companies with good lithium resources around the world. In the recent acquisition of the Canadian lithium company Millennial Lithium, it was cut off by LithiumAmericas.

In September of this year, CATL announced that it would acquire a 100% stake in Millennium Lithium for $297 million. On November 17, Lithium Americas offered about $400 million to acquire all outstanding shares of Millennium Lithium. This offer is nearly 35% higher than that of the Ningde era, making the competition in the Ningde era defeated. Despite this, CATL has not stopped looking for lithium resources until now it has encountered YPF, a well-known lithium industry in Argentina.

When the new energy vehicle market is becoming more and more vigorous, the demand for batteries by car companies increases, and the contradiction between supply and demand of power battery materials is obvious. The supply of lithium hydroxide, lithium carbonate, lithium hexafluorophosphate and other raw materials is tight, and prices generally rise sharply. In order to meet mass production, battery factories Demand has stepped up the layout of upstream raw materials. Recently, manufacturers such as Guoxuan Hi-Tech, BYD, and Penghui Energy have successively issued price adjustment letters for lithium battery raw materials, and explained that the reason for the price increase is that the cost of lithium battery materials is rising and profits are under pressure. In order to ensure stable supply of raw materials and improve cost competitiveness, signs of power battery companies rushing for lithium have emerged.

In fact, the Ningde era's plan for the company's future development has never forgotten the layout of lithium resources. In Qinghai, Yichun and other places in China, and Canada abroad, there are lithium resource projects of its own layout. According to the analysis of Battery China, on the one hand, CATL has planned (including existing, under construction and planned to be constructed) total production capacity to reach 670GWh. Be prepared for resource shortages; on the other hand, due to the current price increase in the lithium resource market, there seems to be an intention of companies to release resources. At the same time, enterprises deploying overseas lithium resources will not only have a price advantage, but also enhance their bargaining power in the market, and their competitiveness will also increase accordingly.

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