(Yicai) Feb. 6 -- Shares of Dongfang Electric Heating Technology advanced after the Chinese maker  of high-performance electric heaters said a subsidiary received two orders for materials used in lithium battery structural parts.

Dongfang Electric Heating [SHE: 300217] closed 4.3 percent up at CNY4.66 (64 US cents) a share today. The broader Shenzhen market rose 2.1 percent.

Dongfang Ninesky New Energy Materials will supply 100 tons of pre-plated nickel steel strips to two manufacturers of precision structural parts, its Danyang-based parent company announced yesterday. Each will receive 50 tons in two installments, one on March 31 and the other on April 15.

The buyers supply a well-known North American new energy vehicle firm, Dongfang Electric Heating said, noting that one is a China-listed maker of precision structural products and the other is a unit of South Korea’s LT Precision in the eastern Chinese city of Chuzhou.

Dongfang Electric Heating did not disclose the value of the orders, saying only that they would account for a low share of its annual revenue and will not greatly boost earnings this year.

Dongfang Electric Heating has been supplying small amounts of pre-plated nickel steel strip products to the listed Chinese customer since 2023. Last year, its revenue from sales to the client reached just CNY239,500 (USD32,885).

Jinyang New Material, a supplier of precision structural parts for power batteries, is the only buyer of Dongfang Electric Heating’s pre-plated nickel steel strips listed on a Chinese stock exchange.

It is the first time that a Chinese company has signed a mass production and supply contract for pre-plated nickel materials for power batteries, demonstrating the client’s regard for its research, development, and manufacturing capabilities, Dongfang Electric Heating noted.

In the future, Dongfang Electric Heating will fully cooperate with customers to gradually increase its monthly supply and potentially expand its production capacity, it said.

Pre-plated nickel steel strips are a new product recently developed by Dongfang Electric Heating. The company’s production facility, which has an annual output of 20,000 tons, started supplying customers with small quantities in 2023.

Dongfang Electric Heating’s revenue from the pre-plated nickel steel strip business was CNY443,600 last year, accounting for just 1.1 percent of the firm’s total income, according to its latest earnings report.

Editor: Futura Costaglione