In 2021, lithium copper foil enterprises are generally full of production and sales, and the products are in short supply, so customers even take the initiative to increase prices to strive for orders, and copper foil processing fees have rebounded significantly as a whole.
But on the whole, restricted by the long production cycle of key equipment, tight supply, process accumulation and other factors, the release of new capacity of copper foil generally takes 1.5-2 years, and the capacity growth rate of lithium copper foil obviously lags behind the growth rate of market demand and the expansion rate of battery capacity. It is expected that the overall supply of lithium copper foil will remain tight in 2022.
Under the condition that supply exceeds demand, copper foil enterprises have actively expanded production since last year, among which Nord shares, which has the second market share in the lithium copper foil industry, fired the "first shot" of production expansion in 2022!
Total investment 12 billion
According to the news released by the official Weibo of Hubei Huangshi Development Zone, on January 15, Nord shares signed the "Norde Lithium Copper foil and Copper substrate production Base Project Investment contract" with Tieshan District of Huangshi Development Zone.
The production base plans to build an annual output of 100000 tons of high-end very thin lithium copper foil and 5G high-frequency high-speed circuit board standard copper foil project, 200000 tons of copper substrate project. The total investment of the project planning is 12 billion, and the construction and implementation of the plan is divided into two phases, of which the investment of the first phase is 6 billion.
After the completion of the first phase of the project, it will become the corporate headquarters of Nord shares in central China and the R & D center of new energy materials, as well as the production base of copper foil.
Vike Lithium noted that on the evening of January 16, Nord shares announced that the company and Huangshi Economic Development Zone intend to sign a "Project Investment contract" to invest in the construction of a new production base of 100000 tons of copper foil materials in Nord, with a registered capital of 3.5 billion yuan. The company is the only investor, and the company enjoys all the rights and interests of the project.
From the point of view of the construction content and scale of the project, it is consistent with the project information released by the official WeChat of the Huangshi Development Zone, but the investment amount of one project is 3.5 billion yuan and the other is 12 billion yuan. In other words, Nord shares may also build a new copper foil project in the Huangshi Economic Development Zone.
It should be noted that the term used in the project introduced by the official WeChat of the Huangshi Development Zone is "high-end very thin lithium copper foil project", which means that Nord shares will probably build copper foil of 4.5 μ m or less. This is also in line with the future development trend of "light and thin" copper foil.
In addition to the above projects, Norde issued a fixed increase plan in June last year, intending to raise no more than 2.288 billion yuan in private. It will be used for the construction of 15000 tons of electrolytic copper foil production line for Qinghai high-performance extremely thin lithium-ion batteries, 12000 tons of Huizhou power battery electrolytic copper foil project, as well as supplementary working capital and repayment of bank loans.
Senior executives set up a "military writ" with a market capitalization of 50 billion?
On October 26 last year, Chen Yubi, deputy general manager of Norde shares, said, "I apologize for not having a market capitalization of 50 billion next year," said Chen Yubi, deputy general manager of Norde shares, in a screenshot of moments that seemed to be posted by senior executives of Norde shares on October 26 last year.
Subsequently, some media received news from Nord shares that: (Chen Yubi)'s remarks have not been examined and approved by the company, nor have they been reviewed by the company's board of directors, and all the information about the company's long-term plans is not true at all. Any information about a company or a listed company shall be subject to legal media and announcements.
At the same time, the report showed that the other side refused to respond to whether the market capitalization of Nord shares could hit 50 billion.
Data show that Nord Co., Ltd. is the first manufacturer of electrolytic copper foil in China, and its main products are electrolytic copper foil for lithium battery, electrolytic copper foil for printed circuit board, and ultra-thick electrolytic copper foil. In addition, it is not only one of the few enterprises in the country to produce 4 μ m copper foil on a large scale, but also the only one in the world to achieve successful research and development of 3.5 μ m copper foil. According to the China Business Industry Research Institute, Nord shares ranked second with 13.0% of China's lithium copper foil market share in 2020.
According to the third quarterly report, Nord shares achieved operating income of 3.236 billion yuan in the first three quarters of 2021, an increase of 137.26 percent over the same period last year, and a net profit of 322 million yuan, an increase of 2070.12 percent over the same period last year.
In terms of customers, Nord shares have a stable cooperative relationship with major power battery companies at home and abroad, such as Ningde Times, LG Chemistry, BYD, SKI, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, Yiwei LiNeng, Tianjin Lishen, China Chuangxin Airlines and other major power battery enterprises at home and abroad.
In terms of production capacity, Nord's total production capacity has reached 43000 tons. After the above-mentioned Huangshi Economic Development Zone, Qinghai and Huizhou projects have reached production capacity, the company's total production capacity will reach 370000 tons.
Data from Oriental Wealth Network show that as of today's close, Nord shares were trading at 15.47 yuan per share, with a total market capitalization of 21.616 billion yuan, a gap of nearly 28.4 billion from the market capitalization of 50 billion.
From the perspective of lithium copper foil, electronic circuit copper foil may be a new hope for Nord shares to achieve a rise in share price and market capitalization.
Expansion of production "scuffle"
Data show that China shipped 115000 tons of lithium copper foil in the first half of 2021, reaching about 90 percent in 2020. It is expected that shipments of lithium copper foil in the second half of the year will be no less than those in the first half of the year. By 2025, the global market demand for lithium copper foil will reach 970000 tons, with a compound growth rate of 34% from 2020 to 2025.
With the acceleration of the global electrification process, the high prosperity of the new energy vehicle market, the arrival of the inflection point of the superimposed energy storage market economy, and the further growth of the demand for lithium copper foil, more and more enterprises will join the wave of production expansion.
Come in the tide, in order to share the future development dividend.
In addition to Nord shares, Jiayuan Technology, Longdian Huaxin and other copper foil enterprises in the continuous expansion of production capacity, but also attracted silver non-ferrous and other listed companies cross-border into the Bureau. According to incomplete statistics, a total of 12 enterprises around the world have invested in lithium copper foil projects in 2021, with a total investment amount of more than 84.2 billion yuan.
The following is the global production of lithium copper foil finished by Vike Lithium in 2021:
Opportunities and challenges
Copper foil is an important auxiliary material in the manufacturing process of lithium battery. generally speaking, the thinner the copper foil is, the greater the effect on the energy density of the battery is, but the more difficult the production and application is. It will bring great pressure and challenges to copper foil enterprises and battery enterprises.
At present, in the field of power battery, 6 μ m copper foil has greatly replaced 8 μ m copper foil, but there is still some distance for the large-scale introduction and application of 4.5 μ m copper foil.
However, at present, battery companies such as Ningde era, Honeycomb Energy and China Chuangxin Airlines are speeding up the introduction and application of 4.5 μ m extremely thin copper foil.
Thus it can be seen that 4.5 μ m copper foil instead of 6 μ m copper foil has gradually become a trend, and the copper foil enterprises that take the lead in mass production in the future will have more core competitiveness and will seize the market ahead of time.
