en.Wedoany.com Reported - The restructuring of the global new energy supply chain is prompting African resource-producing countries to reassess their position in the global battery metal industry. For a long time, Africa has primarily served as a supplier of key minerals such as cobalt, lithium, copper, manganese, graphite, and phosphate. However, these resources are typically shipped to Asia for smelting, material manufacturing, and battery production, leaving Africa capturing only limited value at the front end of the chain. As supply chain security, industrial policy, and trade strategy gain importance, African countries are beginning to explore the possibility of transforming their resource advantages into manufacturing capabilities.
Europe has been a major driver of the restructuring of the global electric vehicle and battery supply chain. Through the Critical Raw Materials Act, the EU has set a 2030 target requiring that at least 10% of its annual strategic raw material consumption come from domestic mining, 40% from domestic processing, and 25% from recycling. However, Europe's localization efforts face challenges. Northvolt, once seen as a flagship for independent European battery manufacturing, filed for bankruptcy in March 2025, followed by ACC, Cellforce, and Volvo Group scaling back their battery manufacturing plans. In the fall of 2024 alone, at least 100 GWh of planned battery capacity in Europe was canceled or postponed. One key structural challenge is energy costs: industrial electricity prices in Europe are typically three to four times higher than in China.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the world's primary source of mined cobalt, accounting for approximately 75% of global production. Zimbabwe has become a significant exporter of spodumene concentrate in Africa. Copper resources in Zambia and the DRC are crucial for global electrification, while Mozambique, Tanzania, and Madagascar also hold considerable graphite potential. However, resource exports do not equate to industrial control. In early 2025, the DRC imposed a cobalt export ban after prices fell below $10 per pound, later transitioning to a quota management system. This move caused global cobalt prices to rebound by about 170%, but due to insufficient local processing capacity, inventories piled up domestically, putting some companies under cash flow pressure.
Zimbabwe's lithium industry is advancing downstream in the value chain. With continued investment from Chinese companies like Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, the country is developing lithium sulfate projects beyond concentrate exports. Lithium sulfate sits between concentrate and battery-grade lithium chemicals, with relatively manageable technical requirements and energy consumption, offering a feasible midstream processing path for countries with developing industrial bases. However, Zimbabwe's case also shows that if export restriction policies outpace the development of infrastructure and processing capacity, it can lead to inventory backlogs and weakened investment confidence.
Morocco offers another reference point. Leveraging its proximity to Europe, abundant phosphate resources, relatively mature industrial base, and stable investment environment, the country has attracted investments from companies like Gotion High-Tech, BTR New Material Group, and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in cathode materials and battery manufacturing. The China-Morocco joint venture COBCO completed its first lithium-ion battery material facility in Jorf Lasfar in 2025. Gotion High-Tech plans to build a battery gigafactory in Kenitra with an initial capacity of 20 GWh and a long-term target of 100 GWh. Renault Group has signed a seven-year agreement with Managem to supply 5,000 tons of low-carbon cobalt sulfate annually, enough to support approximately 15 GWh of annual battery production. However, Morocco's success relies on a set of conditions that are difficult to replicate, including proximity to Europe, mature port infrastructure, an existing automotive manufacturing cluster, and a stable investment environment.
In advancing the localization of the battery metal value chain, Africa faces at least five major obstacles. Unstable power supply is a core challenge, as repeatedly demonstrated by the slow progress of battery-grade lithium projects in Zimbabwe. Low-cost ore does not automatically translate into low-cost materials; resource advantages can only translate into processing competitiveness when energy, logistics, and industrial support systems are competitive. Engineering capacity determines whether projects can be delivered on time; mining companies do not automatically possess the capability to operate chemical processing facilities, and moving downstream requires new technical partners and management systems. Customer certification determines whether products have real market value; for battery-grade lithium chemicals, precursors, and cathode materials, certification cycles are long, and projects often face sales difficulties even after capacity is built. Policy stability determines capital costs; the DRC's 2025 export restrictions led to inventory accumulation and adjustments in investment expectations—the more frequent policy changes, the higher the risk premium investors demand. Transparent pricing mechanisms determine whether the market can mature; as the value chain shifts from ore to concentrate and refined chemicals, differences in grade, impurities, and transaction terms make pricing more complex.
A more realistic path is to advance localization in stages based on national conditions. The first step is to improve beneficiation and concentrate quality, establishing stable product specifications and delivery systems. The second step is to develop midstream processing capabilities, such as lithium sulfate for lithium and cobalt hydroxide and sulfate for cobalt. The third step is to selectively develop refined chemicals like battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide in countries with stronger industrial bases. The fourth step is to develop cathode materials and battery cell manufacturing in a very few regional hubs. A practical model is to pursue regional specialization around resource corridors, processing hubs, and export gateways, reducing project construction costs through cross-border infrastructure. For companies, modular investment and phased expansion are more feasible than full value chain integration.
The restructuring of global supply chains has created new demand for Africa's industrial development. Morocco's rise shows that Africa can play a manufacturing role in the new energy supply chain. Africa does not need to replicate a complete battery supply chain in every country. A more realistic path is to improve concentrate quality and midstream processing capacity in resource-producing countries, develop smelting and material manufacturing in selected regional hubs, build resource corridors through cross-border infrastructure, and enhance project financing feasibility through long-term customer relationships and transparent pricing systems.
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