Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. easily maintained its pole position as the world’s biggest maker of electric-car batteries as of the end of March with its share edging slighter higher to 35%, according to Seoul-based SNE Research’s latest report.
Despite steep rises in raw materials prices, CATL, as the Chinese company is better known, increased its market position from 34.4% at the end of February. South Korea’s LG Energy Solution came in second as of March 31 at 15.9%, followed by China’s BYD Co. at 11.1%. BYD is also a big maker of both electric and regular automobiles.
Global sales of EV batteries surged around 77% to 41.4 gigawatt hours during March from a year earlier, the SNE data out Monday showed. CATL sold 14.9 gigawatt hours of batteries, versus LG Energy’s 7.7 gigawatt hours and BYD’s 4.2 gigawatt hours.
Of the top 10 market heavyweights, Panasonic Holdings Corp. was the only one to post a decline in sales, down 3%.
The power of Chinese-based producers shows little sign of abating, SNE said, with all the top six Chinese players, including CATL, posting more than 100% year-on-year sales growth for the period.
(By Heejin Kim and Hongcheol Kim)
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