(Yicai Global) Dec. 24 -- Chinese metal recycler GEM has struck a supply deal with South Korea's Ecopro to send its lithium battery materials overseas as it looks to crack high-end markets for the technology around the world.

GEM will sell 170,000 tons of nickel-cobalt-aluminum for lithium battery cathodes to Ecopro, the world's second-largest NCA cathode maker and a key supplier to Samsung's storage battery making unit Samsung SDI, GEM said in a statement yesterday. Under the agreement, which lasts until 2023, the supplier will also provide Ecopro with nickel hydroxide, share engineering production technologies for related compounds and work with the buyer to build factories in South Korea, it added.

NCA cathodes for lithium batteries are hailed for their high energy density and are the material of choice for American electric carmaker Tesla.

The agreement will help GEM's automotive power battery materials enter the international market and is a milestone achievement in the firm's exploration of global high-end markets, the statement added.

Editor: James Boynton