Driven by multiple favorable factors, shipments of lithium battery cathode materials continue to increase

Lithium battery cathode material is one of the key materials that determines the performance of lithium batteries, accounting for nearly 30% of the production cost of lithium batteries. Lithium battery cathode materials mainly include four types: lithium cobalt oxide, lithium manganate, lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials. The production process of lithium battery cathode materials is simple, including complex method, solid phase reaction method, ion exchange method, sol-gel method, etc. The solid phase reaction method is widely used in my country.

In the market segment, lithium iron oxide cathode materials have the advantages of high safety, high temperature resistance, light weight and environmental protection; ternary cathode materials have low production cost, long service life and can be recycled. Currently, lithium iron phosphate and ternary materials are the most widely used in lithium batteries, accounting for 80.0% of the demand. In 2021, my country’s lithium iron phosphate cathode material shipments reached 512,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 261.2%; ternary cathode material shipments reached 486,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 82.5%. The rapid development of subdivisions will drive the further expansion of the market space for lithium battery cathode materials.

New energy vehicles are the largest demand side for lithium battery cathode materials. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, my country’s new energy vehicle production will reach 3.545 million units in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 159.5%. As the demand in application fields continues to grow, higher requirements will be placed on the quality and performance of lithium batteries. Lithium battery cathode materials will play an important role in promoting the development of the new energy vehicle industry and can directly determine its battery performance.

Lithium battery cathode materials are widely used due to their low production cost and non-pollution. The country attaches great importance to this and has introduced many supporting policies to promote the development of the lithium battery cathode material industry. In 2020, the General Office of the State Council issued the “New Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)”, which clearly stated that it is necessary to carry out research on key core technologies such as cathode and cathode materials to overcome technical shortcomings.

According to the “2022-2027 Lithium Battery Cathode Materials Industry Market Status and Investment Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center, in Driven by many favorable factors, my country’s lithium battery cathode material output continues to increase. According to data released by the Lithium Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, my country’s lithium battery cathode material output reached 1.112 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 100.8%.

Restricted by factors such as high technical barriers, my country’s lithium battery cathode material manufacturing is concentrated in mid- to low-end products, and the industry concentration is low. Defang Nano, Longpan Technology, Rongbai Technology, and Changyuan Lithium are the leading companies in lithium battery cathode materials in my country, accounting for less than 30% of the market share.

Industry analysts said that thanks to national policy support, shipments of lithium battery cathode materials continue to increase, lithium iron phosphate and ternary As a mainstream product, the market size of materials continues to expand driven by application demand. With the rapid development of new energy vehicles and other fields with strong demand for lithium batteries, lithium battery cathode materials, as one of the key materials that determine the performance of lithium batteries, will gain broad market space.