According to public sources, the shipment of spodumene concentrate from Port Hedland to Indonesia stood at 16,200 tonnes in May 2024, the first time in history since the port started to send spodumene to China and South Korea back in 2021. The May shipments to these two countries were 106,088 tonnes and 9,800 tonnes respectively.
Source: Public info
The shipment to Indonesia coincided with the commissioning to Chengxin Lithium's 60,000-tonne lithium salt project in the country on June 11 local time, which was the first Chinese company building lithium salts capacity in Indonesia.
Indonesia was chosen for lower cost amidst cheaper natural gas and power tariffs, as well as shorter distance to Australia. Meanwhile, the country has put great efforts in developing its electric vehicle industry chain, including friendly policies.
Apart from lithium salt capacity, the carmakers started to explore the Indonesian market long ago.
BYD plans to invest US $1.3 billion to build an electric vehicle factory in the country with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year. Geely has a production base in the country, which is able to produce 30,000 vehicles per year mainly through local assembly. SAIC Motor announced in June 2017 that its Indonesian plant would officially be put into production in 2019, with the main product being SAIC MG.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
