The continued popularity of the new energy, automobile and lithium battery industries has made lithium battery copper foil a hot commodity.
In this context, upstream enterprises have seized the opportunity to expand the industrial chain and expand into the field of copper foil for lithium batteries. At the same time, major lithium battery copper foil companies such as Nord Co., Ltd. and Jiayuan Technology, have also stepped up efforts to expand their production capacity.
Demand is increasing and product supply exceeds supply.
In recent years, with the rapid development of electronics industries, new energy vehicles and 5G, the market demand for lithium battery copper foil has emerged a growth trend. According to research and statistics from theAdvanced Industrial Lithium Battery Research Institute (GGII), China's shipments of lithium battery copper foil reached 146,000 tons in 2020, a year-on-year increase of 17.8%.
As demand increases, copper foil for lithium batteries also faces multiple obstacles. Huaan Securities analyst Wang Hongyan said the expansion cycle of lithium battery copper foil production capacity is long. According to the new plans of major enterprises, the current expansion cycle of lithium battery copper foil production capacity is basically about 2-3 years. In addition, although domestic equipment enterprises are accelerating the domestic replacement of cathode rollers, the cathode rollers used in the production of ultra-thin lithium battery copper foils are still dependent on imports.ations, and the restricted supply of equipment further prolongs the production of copper foil for lithium batteries. expansion cycle.
Xuan Jiyou said that lithium battery copper foil also has the characteristics of high technical difficulty, low input-output ratio and high environmental pressure. Obstacles to production expansion are high, production capacity is difficult to release. and the gap between supply and demand is difficult to bridge in the short term. However, this also reflects that its future market space is huge.
According to GGII data, global demand for copper foil for lithium batteries is expected to be 380,000 tonnes in 2021, an increase of 52% year-on-year. Among them, the demand for electric battery copper foil is 240,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 75%; by 2025, thehe total global demand for copper foil for lithium batteries will reach 1.09 million tonnes. It can be seen that the demand for copper foil for lithium batteries can grow three times in the next five years.
In fact, as the demand for copper foil for lithium batteries continues to increase, companies are essentially operating at full capacity, but the market is still in shortage, driving up its prices. Data shows that 8 μm and 6 μm copper foil rose from 72,000 yuan/ton and 91,000 yuan/ton respectively at the low point in mid-2020 to 106,000 yuan/ton and 122,500 yuan/ton in November this year. The increases are respectively 47.22%. and 34.62%.
Both product volume and price increased, and the performance of related companies increased significantly. Take Nord Co., Ltd. as an example. and Jiayuan Technology, the maincopper foil companies for lithium batteries. In the first three quarters of this year, the two companies achieved operating profit of 3.236 billion yuan and 1.987 billion yuan, respectively, annually. year-on-year increase of 137.26% and 151.91% respectively, they achieved net profit of 3.22 billion yuan and 394 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2070.12% and 238.38 % respectively.
Upstream companies prepare copper foil track for lithium batteries
The market is hot. Upstream companies seize the opportunity to enter the copper foil sector for lithium batteries.
Hailiang Co., Ltd., a leading copper processing company, announced plans to establish a holding subsidiary Gansu Hailiang New Energy Materials Co., Ltd. in November this year. in Lanzhou New District, province of Gansu. , investing 8.9 billion yuan to build a high-performance copper factory with an annual output of 150,000 tons. The sheet material project will be constructed in three phases, with each phase producing 50,000 tons. It is expected to be fully put into production by the company. end of 2025. After the project is put into operation, the company will have a production capacity of 150,000 tons/year of high-performance copper foil, including 120,000 tons/year of copper foil for lithium batteries and 30 000 tonnes/year of standard copper foil.
Baiyin Nonferrous also laid out the lithium battery copper foil track in 2018. The main construction of its project is Gansu Defu New Materials Co., Ltd., and Baiyin Nonferrous owns 37 % actions. As of October 2019, the above-mentioned projects were completed and put into production, reaching a production capacity of 12,000 tonnes/year, and will havea production capacity of 30,000 tons/year by the end of 2021. On the evening of December 7, Baiyin Nonferrous announced that the company plans to add 170,000 tons/year to the production capacity of 30,000 tons/year above-mentioned and cooperate to build a 200,000 tons/year high-end lithium battery copper foil project.
It is reported that the main product of the above-mentioned project is electrolytic copper foil for 4.5μm and 6μm lithium batteries. Judging from the current lithium battery copper foil market, domestic electric battery manufacturer CATL has used 6μm lithium battery copper foil on a large scale. copper foil.
Major enterprises increase production capacity one after another
Major lithium battery copper foil enterprises increase production capacityproduction one after the other.
Jiayuan Technology revealed its private placement plan on November 6 and plans to raise no more than 4.9 billion yuan for high-performance lithium battery copper foil projects. The funds raised will mainly be used in Guangdong, Shandong and Jiangxi. , Fujian and other places. Build high-performance lithium battery copper foil and high-end electrolytic copper foil production lines. On November 10, Jiayuan Technology plans to invest in a high-end copper foil construction project with an annual output of 50,000 tons in Mei County, Guangdong Province.
Nord Co., Ltd. announced a private placement plan in June, planning to raise no more than 2.288 billion yuan for the Qinghai high-performance ultra-thin lithium-ion battery electrolytic copper foil project and the project.and Huizhou. power battery electrolytic copper project. After reaching full production capacity, the company will have an annual production capacity of 85,000 tons of copper foil for lithium batteries.
Chaohua Technology announced on February 1 that it plans to invest 12.26 billion yuan in the construction of a lithium battery copper foil production base in Yulin City, Guangxi, and build high precision electronic copper foil project with annual cost. production of 100,000 tonnes.