Tianqi Lithium's Net Profit Soared by over 1,000% in 2022, an Overview of its Lithium Product Capacity

SHANGHAI, Mar 31 (SMM) - Recently, domestic lithium battery giant Tianqi Lithium released its eye-catching 2022 financial report. It is showed that the company's operating income totalled 40.45 billion yuan in 2022, up 427.82% year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 24.13 billion yuan, up 1,060.47% year-on-year.

According to Tianqi Lithium, benefiting from the global new energy vehicle boom, the accelerated expansion of lithium battery manufacturers, and increased orders for cathode active materials, the sales volume and average sales price of the company's main lithium products increased significantly in 2022 compared with 2021.

In terms of lithium salt prices, SMM prices show that during the year 2022, both battery-grade lithium carbonate and battery-grade lithium hydroxide spot quotes were on the rise and historical highs were hit over and again.

Lithium carbonate prices once shot up to 567,500 yuan/mt on November 9, 2022, while lithium hydroxide prices also soared to 560,000 yuan/mt on November 10.

As of December 30, 2022, the average spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was 512,000 yuan/mt, an increase of 237,000 yuan/mt or 86.18% from 275,000 yuan/mt at the end of 2021, while the average spot price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide stood at 533,500 yuan/mt on December 30, 2022, a gain of 311,000 yuan/mt or 139.78% from 222,500 yuan/mt at the end of 2021.

Tianqi Lithium mentioned in its announcement that it already, through its holding subsidiary Wenfield, acquired the Greenbushes lithium mine that enjoys the largest reserve of lithium resources (8.24 million LCE) in Australia. The company also owns stakes in Atacama in Chile, the lithium salt lake project with the largest reserves of lithium resources (45.51 million mt LCE) in the world.

According to public information, Tianqi Lithium's business covers key stages of the lithium industry chain, including the development of hard rock lithium resources, the processing and sales of lithium concentrates as well as the production and sales of lithium chemical products. The lithium chemical products produced include battery-grade and industrial-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, lithium chloride and lithium metal.

The company currently has four lithium product production bases in operation with a nameplate production capacity of 68,800 mt/year of lithium chemical products. The planned new capacity of lithium chemical products announced by the company has exceeded 110,000 mt, and it has set a strategic plan for 300,000 mt/year capacity for the next five years.

Here is an overview of Tianqi Lithium's capacity in its four production bases.

1) Shehong plant in Sichuan: 14,500 mt of lithium carbonate, 5,000 mt/year of lithium hydroxide, 4,500 mt/year of lithium chloride, and 200 mt of lithium metal.

2) Zhangjiagang plant in Jiangsu: 20,000 mt of battery-grade lithium carbonate. (The plant is currently the sole fully automated battery-grade lithium carbonate plant in mature operation in the world)

3) Tongliang plant in Chongqing: 600 mt of lithium metal.

4) Kwinana Plant (Phase I) in Australia: 24,000 mt of battery-grade lithium hydroxide and is still ramping up. It is the world's first fully automated battery-grade lithium hydroxide plant put into operation.

In addition, the company is building a 20,000-mt battery-grade lithium carbonate project in Anju, Sichuan, and plans to restart the second phase of the 24,000-mt battery-grade lithium hydroxide project at the Kuinana plant.