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Remarkable Performance in Lithium Battery Copper Foil Market

2018 government work report indicates that “We should strengthen fundamental role of consumption in economic development, as well as promote consumption upgrading and develop new business models of consumer sector. We will extend preferential policies on NEV vehicle purchase tax for another three years”.

Actually, our government has been focusing on NEV for many years. In 2016, government work report brought about the idea of “to greatly develop and promote NEV, especially electric vehicles and to accelerate the construction of urban parking lots and charging equipment”; in 2017, government work report brought about the idea of “to encourage the public to use clean-energy vehicle”. Now, in 2018, NEV has again made its presence in government work report, which means NEV will be further developed on the basis of policy support and become “stronger charging and longer endurance”. In the meantime, growing demands of NEV will stimulate the growth of lithium battery copper foil market, which will enjoy remarkable performance in both production and sales.

Based on the analysis of China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the great increase in China’s economy has led to the swift development of China’s auto industry, which is helping to expand the market scale of NEV industry. In 2017, in China, NEV’s production and sales volume was respectively 794000 vehicles and 777000 vehicles, enjoying an increase of 53.8% and 53.3% over 2016; YOY growth of production and sales volume was respectively increased by 2.1 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points. In the meantime, in 2017, the market share of NEV was 2.7%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points over 2016. CAAM holds the view that, in 2018, NEV’s production and sales volume will both exceed 1 million vehicles.

From a general view of electronic copper foil market in China in recent years, the capacity of lithium battery is developing swiftly in spite of the fact that PCB copper foil is playing the dominant role. Based on the analysis conducted by CCFA, among all copper foil capacity in China, lithium copper foil accounted for just 20.7% in 2015 and 23.7% in 2016 and was likely to achieve 35% in 2017. In addition, in terms of production, the ratio of lithium foil to standard foil was 17.7：82.3 in 2015, and 20.2：79.8 in 2016 and was likely to be 23.9：76.1 in 2017. Based on the information from Antaike, China’s lithium copper foil capacity was increased to 147000 metric tons in 2017, a great increase of 86.1% over 2016; the capacity is likely to be increased to 176000 metric tons in 2018. Meanwhile, China’s lithium copper foil production will keep growing very fast. The production in 2016 and 2017 was respectively 59000 metric tons and 77000 metric tons, and in 2018, this number is likely to be increased to 110000 metric tons.

In recent years, lithium battery copper foil, as anode material of lithium ion battery, has been experiencing explosive growth in its market demands, which mainly results from the high-speed growth of lithium ion battery that is driven by the strong electronic information industry and growing demands of NEV. Especially, the fast growth of NEV production and sales has been facilitating the rise of lithium battery copper foil industry. Based on comprehensive information, Antaike has released its analysis that current domestic lithium battery copper foil industry is facing short supply and the gap between production and sales is getting worse in 3-5 years. At the same time, after analyzing the scale change of three big markets where lithium battery is mainly consumed: consumption products, transportation sector and industrial energy storage, Antaike has made initial prediction on future domestic demands of lithium battery copper foil: transportation sector, represented by NEV, is the main driving force for both fast scale expansion of lithium battery market and swift demand growth of lithium battery copper foil. In 2017, China’s total demand of lithium battery copper foil was 94000 metric tons, a great increase from 58000 metric tons in 2016. This number is likely to reach 143000 metric tons in 2018. Wherein, transportation sector, represented by NEV, saw an increase of over 60% in its lithium battery copper foil demands, which was 55000 metric tons in 2017 and will reach 89000 metric tons in 2018.