(Yicai) Sept. 20 -- Chinese battery parts maker CNGR Advanced Material and Moroccan private investment fund Al Mada plan to set up a joint venture to build battery material projects together in the North African country, which is rich in phosphate resources.

CNGR, which will own 50.03 percent of the JV, said yesterday that the partnership will boost its global competitiveness. The Tongren-based company did not disclose the investment amount.

CNGR counts US automaker Tesla and South Korean petrochemical giant LG Chem among its clients. Al Mada, which is controlled by the Moroccan royal family, mainly invests in the fields of finance, mining, and energy.

Besides an industrial park, the JV will also build lithium battery raw material plants in Morocco with an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of ternary precursors and 60,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate.

Through the tie-up, CNGR can tap Morocco’s abundant supply of key battery materials such as iron phosphate and cobalt, give full play to the firm’s rapid industrialization capacity, bring benefits to clients in Europe and America, and improve its overseas layout, it said.

Morocco has proven phosphate reserves of 50 billion tons, accounting for 71 percent of the global total, according to public information. State-owned OCP Group is the world’s largest phosphate exporter and producer. In addition, Morocco is one of the world’s leading cobalt producers.

In 2022, CNGR earned CNY10.2 billion (USD1.4 billion) of revenue abroad, equal to about half of its domestic income. Samsung Electronics Group's energy storage firm Samsung SDI is one of its core foreign customers.

Some other Chinese companies that have announced plans to invest in Morocco or already have bases there are Forbon Technology, a producer of fertilizer additives, and Tinci Materials Technology, a battery electrolyte maker.

CNGR’s stock price [SHE: 300919] ended 2 percent lower at CNY50.55 (USD6.92) today. The Shenzhen stock market fell 0.5 percent.

Editor: Emmi Laine