POSCO Group is set to supply battery-grade lithium to China, the world’s largest producer of secondary battery materials. To this end, the company has signed a strategic business agreement with Ronbay Group, the top player in China’s ternary cathode materials market, agreeing to cooperate across the entire value chain from lithium supply to waste battery recycling.
POSCO Holdings announced on the 19th that it signed a “Strategic Business Agreement for Secondary Battery Materials” with Ronbay Group at the POSCO Center in Daechi-dong, Seoul. Under the agreement, POSCO Group will mobilize all three of its lithium production bases—POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution (Australian ore-based), POSCO Argentina (Argentine brine-based), and POSCO HY Clean Metal (waste battery extraction and recycling)—to supply battery-grade lithium to Ronbay Group.
The two companies plan to first complete quality certification for ore-based battery-grade lithium hydroxide produced by POSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution by the fourth quarter of this year, then establish a foundation for full-scale mass production supply.
Ronbay Group is a leading Chinese battery materials company that has spearheaded the high-nickel cathode materials sector for years, backed by strong technological capabilities and production capacity. Recently, the company has been pursuing a platform-based business strategy, rapidly expanding its product portfolio to include ternary, lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP), and sodium-ion batteries.
Establishing a resource circular economy through waste battery recycling is also a key pillar of this agreement. POSCO HY Clean Metal already has a track record of supplying nickel, cobalt, and manganese to Ronbay Group’s plants in China and EMT, Ronbay Group’s precursor subsidiary in South Korea. Building on this existing partnership, the two companies plan to strengthen the construction of a closed-loop system connecting the entire global process of waste battery resource recovery and recycling.
This agreement is significant in that it demonstrates the global competitiveness of POSCO Group’s lithium production value chain—from raw materials to finished products—while opening a pathway to export high-quality lithium to China, the world’s No. 1 battery materials producer. POSCO Group views this as the simultaneous fruition of the resource-focused, preemptive investment strategy emphasized since Chairman Chang In-hwa took office, and the strategy of identifying new demand in promising markets.
A POSCO official said, “Going forward, we plan to continue cooperating with Ronbay Group to expand collaboration into secondary battery materials product lines such as energy storage systems (ESS), aligned with the trend of LFP product portfolio diversification.”
Key details of the agreement are as follows:
CategoryDetailsLithium supply sourcesPOSCO Pilbara Lithium Solution (ore), POSCO Argentina (brine), POSCO HY Clean Metal (recycling)Quality certificationOre-based lithium hydroxide, certification within Q4 followed by mass production supplyRecycling cooperationPOSCO HY Clean Metal → supplies nickel, cobalt, manganese to Ronbay’s China plants and EMTFuture expansionExpand cooperation scope to LFP, ESS, and other secondary battery materials
Note: Based on POSCO Holdings announcement materials