China To Invest EUR1.5bn In Eastern Hungary Battery Plant-Foreign Min

Wires carrying comments from Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stating that Chinese battery giant Sunwoda is to invest in a new car battery plant in Nyíregyháza, eastern Hungary. Goes on to claim that the total investment will reach HUF580bn (EUR1.5bn). The plant will be Sunwoda's first in Europe, and could be seen as something of a reward for Budapest from Beijing for the Orban gov'ts consistent pushback against EU efforts to decouple/de-risk the European economy with regards to Chinese supply chains.

• In June, Szijjártó stated at the WEF conference in Tianjin, China that “Both decoupling and de-risking [from China] would be a suicide committed by the European economy, How could you decouple without killing the European economy?”
• Sunwoda's injection comes as the second battery plant investment from China, following Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited's USD7.6bn investment in its own Hungarian battery plant in 2022.