JL Mag Rare-Earth, a producer of rare earth permanent magnets, expects new energy vehicles (NEVs) to account for most of its sales over the next few years, according to its chairman. “New energy vehicles is our focus market area now,” Cai Baogui said during a press conference on Monday. “The company’s fastest growing field in the next three years will be NEVs.” He added that JL MAG was also committed to fighting climate change , and will help in achieving carbon neutrality both in China and around the world. The Tesla supplier, which plans to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange next week, secured big orders from BYD, SAIC Motor, BAIC Motor, NIO, Li Auto and Xpeng last year, Cai said. The company supplied carmakers enough magnetic material to produce 800,000 NEVs in the first nine months of last year, up from 450,000 cars in 2019. JL Mag Rare-Earth was the world’s top producer of rare earth permanent magnetic materials in 2020 with a market share of around 14.5 per cent, according to Frost & Sullivan. Rare earth magnetic materials are vital to many industries including smart electronic devices, wind turbines, electric cars and military equipment. The company plans to raise HK$5.06 billion (US$648.8 million) from its Hong Kong offering, with an overallotment option that could bring in as much as US$745 million. It will market the shares in a price range between HK$33.80 and HK$40.30 per share. JL Mag Rare-Earth, which has been listed in Shenzhen since 2018, expects to finalise the offer price on January 7, with the shares to start trading from January 14. The company said it would use part of the proceeds to construct production facilities in Ningbo, a city in China’s Zhejiang province, which is expected to commence operations by 2023. Some of the money will be used for acquisitions and for research and development. “The annual production capacity of high-performance NdFeB PM blanks is expected to reach 23,000 tonnes in 2022 and 40,000 tonnes in 2025, respectively,” Cai said. Neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets or NdFeB account for most of the global rare earth magnet production. They are called permanent magnets because they maintain their magnetic properties even when exposed to a magnetic field. China plans to reach carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 and has promoted the EV industry for years, turning the country into the world’s largest EV market. NEV sales on the mainland were expected to top 2.4 million units in 2021, more than double the 1.17 million a year earlier. The Chinese Passenger Car Association has forecast sales of at least 5.5 million NEVs in 2022.