(Yicai Global) July 20 -- Shares of Bicon Pharmaceutical climbed to a 12-month high after the Chinese drugmaker said its unit has won a long-term order from BYD to provide the carmaker with raw materials for its lithium batteries.

Bicon's stock price [SHE:002411] surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to CNY8.79 (USD1.40), the highest level since last July.

BYD will buy at least 1,150 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate from Bicon’s unit Jiujiujiu Technology in the second half, the Yan’an-based company said in a statement yesterday, without disclosing any financial details of the deal.

Annual orders will tally at least 3,360 tons by 2023, the pharmaceutical ingredients maker added. Jiujiujiu's current annual output of lithium hexafluorophosphate is 6,400 tons, public information shows.

The above-mentioned inorganic compound is one of the main components of lithium battery electrolytes. Prices of the material have jumped six times to as high as CNY425,000 (USD65,521) per ton in China early this month from last August, according to industrial data. The direction is expected to be upward amid tight supply at least till the first half of 2022.

BYD has been seeking to guarantee its supply of battery raw materials. The Shenzhen-based carmaker recently inked a long-term supply deal with Guangdong province-based Tonze Electric to buy up to 11,300 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi