(Yicai Global) April 11 -- Shares of Contemporary Amperex Technology plunged amid a wider slump in Chinese stocks after the power battery giant said it has brought in strict measures to prevent a Covid-19-related shutdown.

CATL [SHE: 300750] ended today 7.3 percent lower at CNY459 (USD72), after earlier slumping as much as 8.7 percent. Chinese stock markets fell, with the Shenzhen Component Index losing 3.7 percent.

CATL has introduced a so-called closed-loop management system at its main plant in China, isolating workers from the general population in order to avoid a shutdown caused by Covid-19, it told Yicai Global.

The Ningde-based company said it is in communication with the local government to continue production in an orderly manner.

Ningde’s Jiaocheng district, where CATL has its main factory, reported three Covid-19 cases and four asymptomatic infections from April 9 to 12.00 p.m. yesterday. The city is testing its entire population for the coronavirus and has closed off some highways, according to its industry and information technology bureau.

CATL has been the world’s largest power battery maker by output for five consecutive years, according to data from SNE Research. Its Ningde plant has planned battery capacity of 171 gigawatt-hours, equal to 31 percent of the global total.

The company’s shipments totaled 18.4 GWh in the first two months of 2022, up 159 percent from a year earlier, with a market share of 34.4 percent, the most among battery makers.

Editor: Futura Costaglione