The project in Zunyi city has a designed capacity of 100,000 t/yr. It will be developed in three phases, with capacity of 20,000 t/yr in the first phase, 40,000 t/yr in the second phase and 40,000 t/yr in the third phase. It is expected to achieve more than 10bn yuan/yr ($1.56bn/yr) of sales revenue.
Guizhou Ronbay, which was founded in Zunyi in 2016, researches, develops, produces and sells lithium-ion battery cathode materials. It started building the first phase with eight production lines in April 2018 and began production in July 2019. The second phase is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.
The Zunyi project is on track to become a leading automatic and intelligent production facility for high-nickel cathode materials, including NCM811 and nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA), globally by the end of 2024 when the third phase is completed.
Ronbay has been additionally expanding output capacities at its plants in Ezhou in south China's Hubei province, Yuyao in east China's Zhejiang province and in Chungju, South Korea. This will take the firm's total capacity for high-nickel ternary cathode material capacity to 120,000 t/yr by the end of this year. It is also on track to further strengthen its global strategic layout with the construction of manufacturing bases in Europe and North America by 2025.
Ronbay's key product is NCM811. The firm's NCM sales rose by 15.5pc from a year earlier to 26,000t in 2020, accounting for about 13pc of China's NCM market. Output rose by 27pc from a year ago to 28,578t in 2020. The company's downstream clients include China's main battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), automotive manufacturer BYD, Avic Lithium Power, LG Chem, Tianjin Lishen and FuNeng Technology.
