(Yicai) Sept. 16 -- Lopal Tech's shares surged by their daily trading limit after the leading Chinese supplier of battery materials said it had received an order worth around CNY6 billion (USD840 million) from an overseas factory of battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology.

Lopal [SHA: 603906] soared 10 percent to close at CNY17.07 (USD2.49) a share in Shanghai today, taking the stock’s gain to 65 percent so far this year.

Lopal's Indonesia plant will supply 157,500 tons of lithium-iron phosphate cathode materials to CATL from the end of next June through 2031, the Nanjing-based firm, which ranks among the top three global suppliers, announced late yesterday.

Based on the current market price for LFP cathode materials, the order is expected to bring Lopal revenues of about CNY6 billion, according to the company. Compared with the ternary lithium batteries widely used by international electric vehicle makers, LFP batteries are cheaper to produce, safer, and more environmentally friendly. 

Lopal did not provide details on the primary destination of the products, but CATL said on its website in early July that the Chinese battery maker and its Indonesian partners had started building the first phase of a power battery plant in West Java, which is scheduled to go live at the end of next year.

The joint venture plant will likely become one of Southeast Asia's largest battery production bases after a planned expansion to make energy storage batteries in later phases.

Lopal's Indonesian LFP cathode materials factory became operational last October and began bulk deliveries in January. In early June, it agreed to supply 152,000 tons of materials to the Malaysian plant of major Chinese battery producer Eve Energy starting next year through 2030.

Lopal's LFP cathode materials production surged 56 percent to 184,700 tons last year, with sales soaring 65 percent to 178,300 tons, according to its annual financial report. Revenue from the segment topped CNY5.7 billion, accounting for 75 percent of the total.

Editor: Martin Kadiev