On 15 September, Lopal Technology announced that its controlled subsidiary, Liyuan (Asia-Pacific), signed a procurement agreement with CATL. The total sales value of the contract exceeds US$800M.

From Q2 2026 to 2031, Liyuan is projected to sell a total of 157.5kt of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials to CATL’s overseas factories. The supplier named in the agreement, Asia Pacific Lithium Source (APLS), is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lopal Technology in Indonesia, responsible for the operation of the Indonesian production base.

The base has a total planned production capacity of 120ktpy of LFP. The first phase, with a capacity of 30ktpy of LFP, was officially put into operation in 2024, whilst the second phase, with a capacity of 90ktpy, is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.  

This order is the fourth long-term agreement secured by APLS. In December 2024, APLS signed a super-long-term agreement with LG Energy Solution, under which Changzhou Lithium Source and APLS are to supply 260kt of LFP cathode materials to LG Energy Solution by 2028. In January 2025, APLS signed a supply agreement with SK On and Ford’s joint venture, BlueOval.

The agreement stipulates that APLS will supply LFP cathode materials to the group from 2026 to 2030. BlueOval’s LFP battery plant in Michigan, USA, has a planned annual production capacity of approximately 35GWh, which is expected to consume nearly 80ktpy of LFP cathode materials. Additionally, in June, EVE Energy signed a supply agreement with APLS, stipulating that APLS will supply it with a total of 152kt of LFP cathode materials between 2026 and 2030.  

The signing of this order further strengthens Lopal Technology’s penetration and competitiveness in the overseas market. However, it also highlights the insufficient supply of ex-China effective LFP cathode material capacity. Among the leading Chinese LFP material companies, Hunan Yuneng’s plants in Malaysia and Spain are still under construction and are not yet operational.

APLS has one of the few projects capable of achieving stable mass production. With the expanding application of LFP in European and North American markets, the development of additional ex-China LFP cathode material production capacity may accelerate. In the short term, however, a high dependency on the Chinese supply chain remains.