Chinese battery parts maker, African fund plan $2 billion venture in Morocco

CNGR Advanced Material Co., a Chinese maker of battery components, is joining forces with African private investment fund Al Mada to build an industrial base in Morocco.

Construction at the site in Jorf Lasfar will start this year, with first output of battery materials targeted for 2025, the partners said in a joint statement. Total investment is seen at more than 20 billion Moroccan dirhams ($2 billion).

Morocco is rich in phosphate resources, key to making the lithium ferrophosphate, or LFP, cells that are increasingly used in electric vehicles. The country is also positioned on the doorstep of Europe, a growing EV market, while benefiting from free-flowing trade with the US.

The venture plans to develop “precursors active materials” for nickel-cobalt-manganese, or NCM, batteries, as well as production units for LFP cathodes and recycling facilities for battery materials.

The venture’s output, sufficient to equip more than 1 million EVs a year, will mainly be exported, according to the statement. The partners are in talks with state-owned OCP Group to secure the phosphates they need.

(By Annie Lee)