Lithium hexafluorophosphate has increased by nearly 300% this year! The shortage of supply has caused related enterprises to join the war of "capacity expansion" one after another.

According to recent market news, the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate, the core material of lithium battery electrolyte, has reached a four-year high. On June 8, its market price was as high as 315,000 yuan / ton, an increase of nearly 300% this year.

For the reason why the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate has hit new highs one after another, SMM previously analyzed that it is mainly because there is an obvious imbalance between supply and demand in the current lithium hexafluorophosphate market, and considering that lithium hexafluorophosphate is a dangerous chemical raw material, its production and expansion are strictly regulated by local governments, the environmental assessment cycle is extremely long, and the production expansion cycle is generally more than 1.5 years, so at a time of imbalance between supply and demand caused by the current outbreak of demand, The production capacity of lithium hexafluorophosphate can not be expanded rapidly in the short term, and the closed production line can not be quickly resumed. And the hoarding and preparation behavior of some manufacturers has also further aggravated the shortage of supply in the market, resulting in a simultaneous rise in volume and price.

In addition, according to relevant media data, the inventory of lithium hexafluorophosphate industry is the lowest in recent years, and lithium hexafluorophosphate enterprises headed by polyfluoroduo and Tianji shares are even in a state of full production and sales. Therefore, in order to be optimistic about the higher-than-expected growth of the new energy vehicle market and the sustained growth trend in the future, many enterprises have launched a "capacity expansion" war, successively increasing the production capacity of lithium hexafluorophosphate.

At present, domestic lithium hexafluorophosphate production enterprises mainly include Divine Materials, Polyfluoroduo, Skyline shares, Shida Shenghua, Cunninghamia lanceolata and so on, among which Tianji Materials, Tianji shares and Polyfluoroduo to Lithium hexafluorophosphate are the most active.

Recently, the relevant person in charge of Tianci Materials has publicly disclosed his company's lithium hexafluorophosphate-related production capacity data. It is reported that at present, Tianzhi material has an annual production capacity of 30, 000 tons of liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate, while the production capacity of solid lithium hexafluorophosphate has reached 2000 tons per year. Not only that, the company's non-public offering projects also include a project with an annual production capacity of 60000 tons of liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate, which is expected to start trial production at the end of the third quarter, and new planned production capacity will not be ruled out in the future. At the end of May, Ningde Kaixin, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tianci Materials, also signed a "material supply Framework Agreement" with Ningde Times, which will supply Ningde era with an estimated use of 15000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate corresponding to the quantity of electrolyte products in the coming year.

Polyfluorodo, which previously raised the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate, also strives not to lose ground, and the company has set a goal of building a production capacity of 30,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate by the end of 2022. It is reported that lithium hexafluorophosphate, which currently has a production capacity of 10000 tons / year, will be gradually launched in the second half of the year according to market conditions. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that if the new energy vehicle market continues to be hot in the second half of the year, both Divine Materials and Polyfluorodo will release their new production capacity in the second half of the year.

In addition to the above two, Tianji shares also said on June 2 that the company's wholly-owned subsidiary Xintai Materials annual production capacity of 6000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate project is gradually released, the total capacity is expected to reach 8160 tons; Yongtai Technology also revealed on June 9 that the company's expanded project with an annual production capacity of 6000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate and 1500 tons of lithium difluorosulfonimide is progressing smoothly. If nothing happens, the production capacity of lithium hexafluorophosphate will reach 8000 tons by the end of 2021.

It is worth mentioning that lithium difluorosulfonimide, as a lithium hexafluorophosphate additive which can improve the weather resistance and cycle life of lithium battery, is gradually favored by many enterprises with the popularity of lithium hexafluorophosphate and lithium battery. At present, enterprises such as Polyfluoroduo and Yongtai Technology already have the ability to mass-produce lithium difluorosulfonimide.

According to Shouchuang Securities Analysis, by 2025, the market size of lithium difluorosulfonimide is expected to reach 10 billion yuan, and because its products have high technical barriers and limited production capacity, they currently enjoy a high premium and are expected to become a new profit growth point for the company.