The Zhitong Finance App learned that preliminary research data from the Advanced Industrial Research Institute (GGII) showed that in 2024q1-Q3, China's lithium battery shipments were 786 GWh, an increase of 30% over the previous year. Among them, shipments of power and energy storage batteries were 533 GWh and 216 GWh respectively, with year-on-year increases of 20% and 70%, respectively.
2023-2024Q1-Q3 China lithium battery shipment volume (GWh)
Data source: Advanced Industrial Research Institute of Lithium Batteries (GGII), October 2024
In the power battery sector, 2024q1-q3 lithium iron phosphate power batteries were shipped at 378 GWh, accounting for 71% of the power battery sector. Main departments:
1) Car companies' price war in 2024 is fierce, and lithium iron phosphate is cost-effective;
2) The growth rate of overseas NEV sales, mainly ternary power batteries, is slowing down, and some models have switched to lithium iron phosphate batteries. From January to September 2024, China sold 8.32 million new energy vehicles, up 32.5% year on year, and the monthly market penetration rate in September exceeded 45%. Of these, PHEV models accounted for 40%, reaching 3.38,000 units. In the field of new energy passenger vehicles, B-class cars and above account for more than 50% of the market. From January to August 2024, China PV added 139.99 GW of installed capacity, an increase of 23.7% over the previous year, driving the increase in demand for energy storage systems;
3) The US is about to increase tariffs on lithium batteries exported from China to the US, and intermediaries are preparing lithium batteries for energy storage in advance. The digital market is mainly driven by new technology enabling (AI), continuous product upgrading, and new product launches (such as Huawei's tri-folding screen phones).
The growth rate of all four main materials exceeds 20% lithium iron phosphate cathode materials lead the growth rate of the entire cathode materials industry
According to GGII preliminary research data, China shipped 2.26 million tons of cathode materials in 2024Q1-Q3, an increase of 26% over the previous year. Among them, shipments of lithium iron phosphate materials were 1.62 million tons, up 37% year on year, accounting for 71.4% of total cathode material shipments, leading the growth of the cathode materials industry; shipments of ternary materials were 480,000 tons, down 1.6% at the same time; shipments of lithium cobalate and lithium manganate were 74,000 tons and 94,000 tons respectively, up 23% and 31% year-on-year respectively.
The rapid rise in the share of lithium iron phosphate materials is mainly driven by energy storage batteries and lithium iron phosphate power batteries. Shipments of ternary cathode materials declined year-on-year, mainly because the market growth rate fell short of expectations and exports were blocked. The growth of lithium cobalate and lithium manganate materials is mainly driven by the 3C digital market.
In 2024Q1-Q3, China shipped 15.4 billion square meters of diaphragm materials, an increase of 27% over the previous year. Among them, 12 billion square meters of wet diaphragms were shipped, an increase of 37% over the previous year, and the market share increased 5.6 percentage points to 78%. This is mainly due to drastic changes in the field of energy storage.
In 2024Q1-Q3, China shipped 1.49 million tons of anode materials, an increase of 24% over the previous year. Among them, shipments of artificial graphite and natural graphite materials were 1.28 million tons and 205,000 tons respectively.
In September, China's artificial graphite shipments increased 4% month-on-month. The low growth rate was mainly due to the industry clearing inventory and reducing procurement of upstream materials.
In 2024Q1-Q3, China's electrolyte shipments were 1.02 million tons, an increase of 28% over the previous year.
2023-2024Q1-Q3 China lithium battery material shipments (10,000 tons, 100 million square meters)
Data source: Advanced Industrial Research Institute of Lithium Batteries (GGII), October 2024