China has set its sights on Morocco. The Asian giant sees the North African country as a goldmine to develop its electric battery production and will boost the Moroccan kingdom with an investment of over $700 million from Chinese companies, according to information from Benchmark Minerals Intelligence

This agreement will make Morocco one of the largest producers of cathodes globally. This cascade of Chinese investments in the country will lead the Alaouite kingdom to multiply its production to the point where it can supply a quarter of the demand from Europe

This will be boosted by a massive investment of around 490 million dollars from BTR (a subsidiary of the Chinese group Bao’an), whose agreement was announced at the end of last year. To carry out this ambitious project, a new factory will be installed in the Technopark of Tangier, in northern Morocco, and it is expected that this factory will generate around 50,000 tons of lithium-ion battery anode material annually

Why Morocco?

China has been paying attention to the movements of Morocco and has entered into various trade agreements with the aim of improving its international relations, aware of the leading role that the Arab country plays in the world, with very lucrative trade relations both with the U.S. and Europe

This is why in December 2023, Morocco signed a memorandum with the leading company in the electric mobility sector, Guchen Hi-Tech (Sino-European). This investment will amount to $6.4 billion, in addition to an investment of almost $500 million from China BTR for the installation

All of this has made Morocco seen by major world powers as a reliable and profitable partner. According to the words of the Moroccan Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ryad Mezzour, the production capacity of electric vehicles in his country will be around 100,000 units per year by 2026, which is double the current production

Relations with Europe and America, along with being one of the countries with the greatest potential in Africa, as well as its geographical position, were the factors that encouraged Chinese companies to go all in for Morocco and invest in the kingdom before many other countries. This was the approach taken by Guchen High Tech to take the leap

In fact, the company estimates that its production for this year, 2024, will grow by around 123% compared to 2023, reaching a revenue of $3.2 billion

Sentury Tyre is also looking towards Morocco

Another major Chinese company, like Sentury Tyre, has also focused on the Moroccan kingdom, and during the past month of October, announced the expansion of the project in Morocco. With this move, and after the plant opened in As Pontes, the Asian company hopes that the opening of another one in Tangier will be a great success.

When completed, Sentury will have up to eight tire production centers distributed worldwide: three in China, two in Thailand, two in Europe, two in Africa, and one in North America

This decision by Sentury only confirms theories that have been maintained for years regarding Morocco: it is a country with an emerging economy with very favorable conditions for major global companies, attracting giants from various sectors, and now it also aims to become one of the major tire producers in the world

Source of the article: huffingtonpost