China’s steel demand shifts to higher-grade ore, Rio Tinto exec says
"The demand for high grade ore continues to be strong," chief commercial officer Bold Baatar said.
Chinese battery materials producer CNGR on Tuesday said it would buy nickel and cobalt from compatriot Xiamen Xiangyu over a five-year period as part of a broad strategic cooperation agreement between the two companies.
CNGR said in a filing it expected to purchase approximately 80,000 tonnes of nickel and 15,000 tonnes of cobalt from Xiamen Xiangyu from 2022-27. Both metals are key ingredients in batteries for electric vehicles.
The exact volume and price will be determined in a separate sales and purchase agreement, CNGR added.
Xiamen Xiangyu, part of state-owned supply chain management firm Xiangyu Group, focuses on marketing nickel, cobalt, lithium and other “new energy” raw materials, the filing said.
The tie-up also envisages joint development and smelting of nickel ore resources in Indonesia into battery materials.
Xiamen Xiangyu already uses nickel ore to make stainless steel in Indonesia, while CNGR plans to produce nickel matte in the Southeast Asian country, whose ban on nickel ore exports has prompted many Chinese companies to invest in processing plants there.
(By Tom Daly; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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