(Yicai) Dec. 17 -- Jiayuan Technology, a major Chinese supplier of copper foil for lithium-ion batteries, will purchase 70,000 tons of electrolytic copper from Swiss trader IXM.

Jiayuan will buy 60,000 tons of electrolytic copper from IXM and 10,000 tons of the raw material from its subsidiary in Shanghai, the Guangdong province-based buyer announced yesterday. The price will be decided based on an agreed method, and deliveries will begin this month and last until next December.

The imported 60,000 tons are estimated to cost about USD602 million, based on the latest settlement price for spot electrolytic copper at the London Metal Exchange, plus import value-added taxes. The China-made 10,000 tons will cost a total of about CNY738.7 million (USD101.4 million).

Jiayuan is a leading Chinese supplier of 4.5-micrometer ultra-thin copper foil for lithium batteries. It boasts Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest battery maker, as one of its main customers.

Jiayuan hiked its annual output capacity of copper foil for lithium-ion batteries by 38,000 tons to 100,000 tons last year from the previous one. In 2023, the company made 58,000 tons of copper foil, which sales contributed to about 91 percent of its revenue, according to Jiayuan's latest annual report.

Jiayuan's shares [SHA: 688388] closed up 0.6 percent at CNY16.44 (USD2.26) in Shanghai today, after earlier gaining as much as 4.7 percent. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Star 50 Index [SHA: 000688] fell 0.8 percent.

Editor: Futura Costaglione