SMM, 10 May:

LG Chemical won the first place with 27.1 per cent market share in the first quarter of 2020, beating the powerful Ningde era and Panasonic, according to a new report by SNE Research, a South Korean market research firm. LG's market share more than doubled from the same period in 2019 to second place Panasonic (25.7 per cent), while Ningde, the defending champion of the year, came in third with 17.4 per cent, down from 23.4 per cent in the same period in 2019, the report said.

According to SMM research, due to the impact of the epidemic, the operating rate of domestic battery enterprises was low in the first quarter, but since then, due to no obvious improvement in terminal demand, the operating rate of battery factories has not improved; in addition, the overseas epidemic began to spread in the middle and late March, leading battery enterprises export orders were affected, and the power battery market was still in a depressed state in the second quarter.

At present, among the battery enterprises, the demand of LG industry chain is relatively stable, mainly relying on the full production of Tesla Shanghai factory.

In addition, BYD has focused on promoting lithium iron phosphate batteries this year, and its Chongqing plant has been in full production, driving demand for some lithium iron phosphate materials.

In late March, nearly 20 overseas automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Daimler, Fiat Chrysler, Peugeot Citroen, GM and Ford, have closed or plan to close more than 100 factories. According to relevant statistics, new energy plants, including Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Volvo, basically resumed work on April 20, while BMW's new energy plant in Leipzig, Germany, will resume work after May 18. At present, the epidemic has had an impact on the production of new energy vehicles for at least two months, and demand has to wait for the epidemic to be brought under control. European new energy vehicle sales data in April show that, with the exception of Germany, which still shows strong year-on-year growth, year-on-year sales in other countries have declined significantly, including countries severely affected by the epidemic, such as Spain and Italy, where new energy vehicles have dropped by more than 100% year-on-year.