Since the second half of last year, the lithium copper foil industry as a whole has shown a development situation of rising volume and price, and the industry investment upsurge. Battery Network noted that in the last month, Hailiang (002203), Longdian Huaxin, Baiyin Nonferrous (601212), Jiayuan Technology (688388) and other companies announced new investment and production expansion plans.
According to a research report released by Bank of China Securities, the price of lithium copper foil has increased since the end of last year, with 8 μ m and 6 μ m copper foil rising from 72000 yuan / ton and 91000 yuan / ton at the low point in mid-2020 to 106000 yuan / ton and 122500 yuan / ton in November this year, up 47.22% and 34.62% respectively.
Tight balance between supply and demand
According to Huaan securities analysis, lithium copper foil accounts for 5% of the cost of lithium battery cell materials, which is an important part of the supply chain layout of power battery companies. Lithium copper foil has four major manufacturing processes, complex technical indicators, high requirements for additive formula and production control technology, etc., because of its high-quality characteristics, it has become the first choice of negative current collector for lithium-ion battery, and the possibility of being replaced is low.
According to the "White Paper on the Development of China's Copper foil Industry (2021)" jointly issued by EVTank, the Yiwei Economic Research Institute and the China Battery Industry Research Institute, shipments of lithium copper foil in China reached 146000 tons in 2020, an increase of 17.7% over the same period last year. Chinese lithium copper foil shipments account for nearly 35% of the total electrolytic copper foil.
This year, due to the high demand for copper foil in the field of power batteries, shipments of lithium copper foil in China are likely to exceed 200000 tons.
Bank of China Securities analysis said that the existence of industry barriers makes copper foil nominal production capacity and downstream actual demand difficult to match, showing a structural shortage. At present, the production of 1GWh lithium battery requires about 700t 6 μ m copper foil or 900t 8 μ m copper foil, the lithium copper foil industry as a whole is in a state of full production and short supply, and the major copper foil enterprises have started to expand production, but due to the long period of equipment in place and construction, most of the new capacity is released at the end of 2021 and 2022, and the short-term supply gap is difficult to make up. It is expected that the high temperature of the lithium copper foil plate is still expected to continue in 2022.
Ping an Securities expects that driven by new energy vehicles and energy storage, China's lithium copper foil market will maintain a compound growth rate of 35 per cent from 2020 to 2025 and reach a market size of about 470000 tons by 2025. Among them, the share of power batteries increased from 55% in 2020 to 66% in 2025, while the share of energy storage increased from 12% in 2020 to 25% in 2025.
In the global market, Huachuang Securities estimates that the total global output of lithium copper foil from 2021 to 2023 is 368000 tons, 497000 tons and 659000 tons respectively, and the total demand is 346000 tons, 492000 tons and 673000 tons respectively. Huachuang Securities expects that the global supply and demand of lithium copper foil will enter a tight balance from 2021, of which products of 6 μ m and below are more scarce.
Investment to expand production and high fever
Under the expectation of high growth in the demand market, in addition to intensive production expansion with copper foil as the main business, such as Nord shares, Jiayuan Technology, Chaohua Technology, etc., the field of lithium copper foil has also attracted a number of upstream copper companies to make large-scale layouts. In the past month, the investment and production expansion in the field of lithium copper foil is as follows:
On December 8, Jiayuan Science and Technology announced that the company and Ningde Times intend to jointly set up a joint venture company to plan and build a high-performance copper foil project with an annual output of 100000 tons, which is divided into two phases, one of which plans to build a high-performance copper foil project with an annual production capacity of 50, 000 tons. The project will be completed within 33 months from the date of actual payment of the first phase of registered capital. The second phase plans to build a high-performance electrolytic copper foil project with an annual output of 50,000 tons, and the completion time of the project will be confirmed when the second phase of the project starts.
Jiayuan Technology also disclosed in early November the plan to raise no more than 4.9 billion yuan, after deducting the issuance fee. It will all be used for high-performance lithium copper foil fund-raising investment projects, Jiayuan Science and Technology Park annual output of 16000 tons of high-performance copper foil technical transformation project, annual output of 15000 tons of high-performance copper foil project, annual output of 30, 000 tons of high-precision ultra-thin electronic copper foil project, Jiangxi Jiayuan Science and Technology Co., Ltd. annual output of 20, 000 tons of electrolytic copper foil project.
On December 7, Baiyin Nonferrous announced that the company will cooperate to build 200000 tons of high-grade lithium copper foil project. Gansu Defu New Materials Co., Ltd., the main body of the project, was established in Lanzhou New area in June 2018. Baiyin Nonferrous holds a 37% stake. It is reported that Gansu Defu has completed and put into production 12000 tons of copper foil production capacity in October 2019; 30, 000 tons of copper foil production capacity will be formed by the end of 2021; 40, 000 tons of project construction will be launched in October 2021, and it is planned to be completed and put into production by the end of 2022; the follow-up project construction plan is to complete the overall construction of 200000 tons of high-grade electrolytic copper foil project in 2025.
On November 26, Nord shares issued an announcement, and the company received a reply from the China Securities Regulatory Commission on the same day. The approved company shall not issue more than 340 million new shares in non-public offering. It is reported that Nord shares are scheduled to raise no more than 2.288 billion yuan this time. After deducting the issuance cost, it will be used for the electrolytic copper foil project for Qinghai high-performance extremely thin lithium-ion battery, the Huizhou power battery electrolytic copper foil project, the supplement of working capital and the repayment of bank loans.
On November 26th, Shandong Hesheng Copper Co., Ltd. put into production the second phase 5000 tons project and the third phase 20, 000 tons of high-performance lithium copper foil signing ceremony was held in Dongying, Shandong Province. Hesheng Copper is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Longdian Huaxin Group, with a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan, mainly producing copper foil for high-performance lithium batteries. It is one of the core production bases of Longdian Huaxin Group in East China.
On November 18, the project with an annual output of 50,000 tons of high-performance ultra-thin copper foil officially signed and settled in Zhongxin Suzhou High-tech Zone. It is reported that Anhui Youdong Technology Co., Ltd. is mainly engaged in 4.5 micron-8 micron lithium copper foil products and 12 micron-35 micron PCB copper foil R & D and production, with more than 20 years of technical team in the copper foil industry, rich lithium and PCB customer resources.
On November 7, Hailiang shares announced that Hailiang shares planned to set up a holding subsidiary in Lanzhou New area of Gansu Province to invest 8.9 billion yuan in the construction of a high-performance copper foil material project with an annual output of 150000 tons, which will be divided into three phases. the source of funds is the company's own funds or other self-raised funds. After the project is put into production, the company will form a high-performance copper foil production capacity of 150000 tons / year, including lithium copper foil 120000 tons / year, standard copper foil 30, 000 tons / year. The project is divided into three phases, each with 50,000 tons.
The progress of IPO is accelerated.
With the expansion of market demand and production capacity, the progress of IPO of related industrial chain companies is also accelerating:
December 10, Jiujiang Telford Technology Co., Ltd. (abbreviated as: Defu Technology) gem IPO application was accepted by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Guotai Junan Securities is its sponsor. This time, IPO, Telford Technology plans to raise 1.2 billion yuan, and the net amount after deducting issuing expenses will be used for 28000 tons / year of high-grade electrolytic copper foil construction projects, high-performance electrolytic copper foil research and development projects and supplementary liquidity.
Defu Science and Technology was founded in 1985, is a national high-tech enterprise, the main business is electrolytic copper foil research and development, production and sales. The company's products include: new energy vehicle power lithium battery copper foil dual light 4.5micron, 6 micron, 8 micron, electronic circuit application high temperature and high ductility copper foil (HTE), flexible copper foil (FCF), for 5G applications ultra-low profile copper foil (HVLP), reverse treatment copper foil (RTF) and other special applications copper foil and so on. The company currently has two major production bases in Jiujiang, Jiangxi and Lanzhou, Gansu, with a built production capacity of 49000 tons per year, ranking firmly in the forefront of domestic copper foil enterprises.
Recently, according to legal procedures, Anhui Tongguan Copper foil Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: copper Guan Copper foil) has been approved to register its initial public offering (IPO) on the growth Enterprise Market (gem), according to news released by the CSRC on December 8. According to the copper crown copper foil registration draft, copper crown copper foil IPO intends to raise 1.19727 billion yuan, according to priorities will be used in Tongling non-ferrous copper crown copper foil annual production of 20 million tons of high-precision energy storage ultra-thin electronic copper foil project (Phase II), high-performance electronic copper foil technology center project, supplementary liquidity.
Copper crown copper foil is mainly engaged in the research and development, manufacture and sales of all kinds of high-precision electronic copper foil. The main products are classified by application field, including PCB copper foil and lithium battery copper foil. At present, Tongling Nonferrous holds 96.5% of the company, while Hefei Guoxuan, a lithium battery manufacturer, holds the remaining 3.5%. In terms of competitiveness, the company's PCB copper foil shipments ranked first among domestic enterprises in 2020, and lithium battery copper foil shipments ranked fifth.
On October 29, the initial application of Hubei Zhongyi Science and Technology Co., Ltd. was approved by the gem listing Committee and will be listed on the gem of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. According to the prospectus, this time IPO, No. 1 Science and Technology plans to raise 715.7784 million yuan, which will be used for the production and construction of 10000 tons of high-performance electronic copper foil, the construction of technology research and development center, supplementary liquidity and other projects.
Zhongyi Science and Technology was founded in 2007, mainly engaged in all kinds of single-sided and double-sided light high-performance electrolytic copper foil series product research and development, production and sales, under the jurisdiction of Yunmeng, ANLU two major electrolytic copper foil production bases.
Conclusion: at present, about 80% of the global lithium copper foil production capacity is concentrated in China. With the expansion of domestic enterprises and the expansion of downstream demand markets, coupled with the relatively cautious expansion of Japanese and South Korean enterprises, the proportion of China's lithium copper foil production in the world will continue to increase.
At the same time, judging from the market share of domestic lithium copper foil last year, Longdian Huaxin ranked first with shipments of more than 23000 tons in 2020, with a market share of 16.0%, followed by Norde shares and Jiayuan Technology. The market shares of the two enterprises are 13.0% and 10.1% respectively. The market share of Huawei copper foil, Zhongyi technology and copper crown copper foil, which ranks 4th to 6th, is 6.8%, 5.8% and 5.4% respectively, with a small gap, and the market concentration is relatively low relative to positive and negative materials, electrolytes and diaphragms. Superimposing the entry of some cross-border listed companies, the market competition will be more fierce.
In addition, although in terms of price and technical difficulty, the thinner the lithium copper foil is, the higher the performance-to-price ratio is. At present, in several domestic battery enterprises, 6 μ m lithium copper foil has become the mainstream application product, 4.5 μ m extremely thin copper foil has also begun batch application, the trend of light and thin lithium copper foil has become increasingly prominent.
