(Yicai) Dec. 29 -- BTR New Material Group, a unit of new energy materials maker China Baoan Group, has unveiled plans to invest as much as CNY3.5 billion (USD496.6 million) in building a new lithium-ion battery cathode factory in Morocco.

The new plant will be able produce 50,000 tons of cathode for lithium-ion batteries a year, Shenzhen-based BTR said yesterday. Baoan also released a statement on the same day.

BTR will be responsible for investment and construction, while operations will be handed to a project firm to be set up in Morocco by BTR unit Bnuo International Holding, it added, without revealing any further details about the project.

Morocco has formed a complete industry chain for lithium-ion raw materials, including cobalt and phosphate, with its phosphate reserves reaching 50 billion tons, or 71 percent of the global total.

Many Chinese producers of lithium-ion batteries stepped up overseas expansion this year in response to fierce competition at home. For example, Gotion High-Tech announced it would build a battery plant with an annual capacity of 100 gigawatt hours in Morocco.

Domestic competition also led to low capacity utilization rates. For example, Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest battery maker, saw its rate slump to 60.5 percent in the first half of the year from 83 percent last year.

Utilization rates have also fallen at battery material producers. While large companies managed to keep theirs at between 50 percent and 80 percent, small- and mid-sized firms have been struggling, with their rates tumbling to between 20 percent and 40 percent, according to data from Shenzhen Gaogong Industrial Research.

BTR can turn out 495,000 tons of pseudo-anode and 63,000 tons of cathode each year, it said on Nov. 23. In the nine months ended Sept. 30, its anode and cathode capacity utilization rates exceeded 70 percent.

Shares of BTR [BJ: 835185] closed up 1 percent at CNY22.91 (USD3.23) each in Beijing today.

Editor: Futura Costaglione