In recent years, driven by the continuous and rapid development of 3C digital and new energy vehicle industry, the lithium battery market has continued to grow rapidly, and the development of lithium battery cathode material industry has also benefited from it. Facing the huge market demand, cathode material enterprises are also accelerating their layout. Many enterprises continue to follow up in terms of production capacity and technology in order to seize the first opportunity in the fierce market competition.

Capacity expansion is

To improve the capacity scale, product supply capacity and market competitiveness, Zhongke Xingcheng expanded the production line of cathode materials and graphitization in Guizhou production base. On July 2, the 10000 ton / year graphitization processing line of negative electrode materials newly built in Guizhou production base was successfully ignited for trial production. Zhongke Xingcheng strives to build it into an advanced integrated production base of lithium battery cathode materials and graphitization processing.

It is understood that Zhongke Xingcheng Guizhou production base was established in 2016. At the initial stage of its establishment, it was mainly engaged in the graphitization processing business of cathode materials. In order to open up and improve the company's cathode material business industrial chain, the parent company Zhongke electric completed its acquisition in 2018 and incorporated it into the new energy materials business department for overall planning. Zhongke electric, the parent company of Zhongke Xingcheng, said that the company initially expected to form a capacity of 40000-50000 tons of cathode materials by the end of 2020.

It is worth noting that on June 16, the Listing Committee of the national small and medium-sized enterprise share transfer system held its fourth review meeting in 2020, and the listing application of beiteri, a leader in cathode materials, was successfully passed. The company plans to raise 2billion yuan for projects such as Huizhou beiteri's annual production of 40000 tons of lithium battery cathode materials.

In addition, on April 27, the launch ceremony of the lithium battery cathode material production line of Tianquan Fuan company under Fuan group was held in Ya'an, Sichuan, and a production line with an annual output of 40000 tons of lithium battery cathode material will be built. It is reported that Fuan group will take this project as an opportunity to continue to increase the investment in cathode material projects, strive to build a 60000 ton lithium battery cathode material industry in Ya'an, form an industrial base integrating raw material processing, raw material processing, high temperature coating, graphitization and finished product processing, and is committed to developing Tianquan Fuan into a world leading supplier of graphite cathode materials for lithium batteries.

Previously, in March this year, putailai planned to build the "50000 ton / year lithium ion battery cathode material graphitization project" in Wulanchabu, Inner Mongolia. The total investment of the project is 1.281 billion yuan, and the construction period is two years. Pu Tailai said that the project will enable the company to fully cover the processing and production processes of cathode materials, integrate production, reduce production costs and improve product competitiveness. In addition, the first phase of the "20000 ton / year lithium ion battery cathode material project" of Hunan Chenyu Fuji New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was completed and put into operation at the beginning of this year.

High end capacity in short supply

At present, both abroad and at home, the industrialization process of the new energy vehicle industry is accelerating, and all countries are promoting the full realization of vehicle electrification. At the same time, the emergence of new electronic products, the upgrading of electric bicycles and the wide application of electric tools have kept the market demand for lithium batteries growing steadily. In 2019, China's lithium-ion battery shipments reached 131.6gwh, an increase of 18.6% year-on-year. In the future, the field of lithium cathode materials still shows a broad market development space.

In terms of global market share, cathode material manufacturers are mainly concentrated in East Asia, of which China and Japan account for more than 95% of the global market share. Domestically, the domestic anode material industry has a high concentration, and the "three major and five small" are relatively powerful, which refer to beiteri, putailai (Jiangxi Zichen) and Shanshan shares respectively; The five small businesses refer to Kaijin energy, zhengtuo energy, Shenzhen snow, Zhongke Xingcheng and xiangfenghua respectively.

Statistics show that in 2019, driven by the growth of power battery terminal markets at home and abroad, China's cathode material market shipments reached 265000 tons, an increase of 38% year-on-year. Among them, leading enterprises such as beiteri, Jiangxi Zichen and Shanshan have further increased their market share to 56% with years of technological advantages and high-quality overseas customer channels.

It is understood that as the leader in the field of domestic cathode materials, since 2013, beiteri has ranked first in the world in terms of cathode material shipments for seven consecutive years. At present, the market share of putailai and Shanshan shares in the field of cathode materials follows that of beiteri; The anode materials of Shanshan Co., Ltd. give consideration to high, middle and low-end products, focusing on the middle and low-end. Putailai mainly makes high-end cathode products.

In recent years, with a large amount of capital entering the lithium battery material industry, the existing lithium battery cathode manufacturers have expanded their production, the total capacity of domestic cathode materials has expanded rapidly, and the homogenization competition is fierce. By the end of 2019, the capacity of domestic cathode material enterprises had reached 579800 tons, an increase of 31.40% year-on-year; In general, the supply of domestic cathode materials continues to grow rapidly, but the production capacity of high-end products is still in short supply.

Industry analysis points out that there are many domestic negative electrode material manufacturers, which will inevitably lead to intensified market competition. In the next few years, the competition of domestic cathode material manufacturers is mainly reflected in the catch-up of small and medium-sized enterprises to large enterprises, as well as the competition between small and medium-sized enterprises. The industry concentration will be further improved, and enterprises in the industry will face greater market competition risks.

Cathode material is a typical technology intensive industry. Especially in the context of the continuous improvement of the requirements for the high performance, safety, low cost and stability of lithium-ion batteries in the downstream new energy vehicles, energy storage and other terminal applications, cathode material enterprises need to continue to develop new technologies, new processes and new products to meet the rapid iteration needs of downstream lithium-ion batteries for key materials.

In the future, the market competition pattern of cathode materials will focus on the competition among leading enterprises, the low-end production capacity will be gradually cleared, enterprises with core technology and advantageous customer channels will gain more market share, and the market concentration will be further improved.

    
Article source:Battery China