China's BYD, Tsingshan scrap plans for Chile lithium plants

By Daina Beth Solomon

SANTIAGO (Reuters) -Chinese automaker BYD and metals group Tsingshan are backing out of multi-million dollar plans to build lithium cathode plants in Chile, the country's economic development agency said on Wednesday.

The retreat by the two huge Chinese companies is a blow to Chile's aim to develop more domestic processing of lithium, a key metal for electric vehicle batteries. Chile is the world's no. 2 lithium producer.

Both projects were hit by plunging lithium prices, said government economic development agency Corfo, which in 2023 had tapped BYD and Tsingshan for a preferential lithium price deal as part of its efforts to spur investment in Chile.

"The companies selected by Corfo have been affected in their investment decisions by the global market conditions, which have shown a sharp drop in prices," Corfo said in a statement.

Tsingshan told Reuters it has withdrawn plans for a $233 million project to produce 120,000 metric tons of lithium iron phosphate (LFP). Chile's national assets ministry told Reuters that BYD filed an intent to withdraw its plans in January.

BYD, the world's biggest maker of electric cars, declined to comment. BYD last year flagged delays to a planned $290 million plant, which was expected to produce 50,000 metric tons per year of LFP for cathodes.

Chilean newspaper Diario Financiero first reported the scrapped investments.

Chile's effort in 2018 to encourage lithium-related investments via a pricing deal also fell apart. Chilean chemical company Molymet, China's Sichuan Fulin Transportation Group Co, and a joint venture between Korean firms Posco and Samsung for various reasons withdrew their plans.

Tsingshan and BYD would have had access to preferential prices of lithium produced by Chilean miner SQM through 2030, a timeframe that Corfo said also may have influenced the withdrawal of the projects.

In addition, Corfo said Tsingshan had wanted to assign the project development to a unit of the company that had not participated in the bidding process, which Corfo said was not possible.

Corfo last week opened a second bidding process for a similar scheme, this time to provide a purchasing deal with U.S. lithium producer Albemarle through 2043 for companies that commit to lithium-related projects.

Albemarle and the selected investors will be able to use an "alternative form" to determine a price agreement, Corfo said.

(Reporting by Daina Beth Solomon; Editing by Alexander Villegas, Sarah Morland, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Lincoln Feast.)

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