Capacity utilisation rate of China lead-acid battery companies in December

The average capacity utilisation rate of sample lead-acid battery companies recorded 68.63% in December with a combined output of around 19.86 million kVAh, down 2.47 percentage points month-on-month and 6.68 percentage points year-on-year. The survey covered 48 producers with the total monthly capacity of 28.94 million KVAh.

According to survey, since December, the end-user consumption performance of the electric bicycle battery market has been poor. Many dealers were liquidating inventory, with frequent sales promotions in the battery wholesale market. Orders at manufacturers were sluggish, and due to high finished product inventory, production rarely reached full capacity. Medium and large-scale enterprises closed for 1-3 days due to year-end stock-taking. As for the automobile battery market, supporting orders at large battery companies were strong on the back of brisk vehicle production and sales. Meanwhile, the temperature dropped in December, and the demand for automobile battery replacement improved. Dealers actively replenished their inventories, and medium and large-scale enterprises kept operating rates at 80-100%. In terms of energy storage battery companies, orders for communication base stations won in in 2023 had been delivered, but there was a lack of new orders in 2024. This drove some companies to lower their operating rates to around 50% due to a lack of orders. The monthly average operating rate of lead-acid battery companies showed a downward trend in December. In the meantime, lead-acid battery companies withdrew funds at the end of the year and reduced raw material inventories. The decline in actual lead ingot purchases was greater than the decline in operating rates.

In January, there was little difference in end-user consumption in the lead-acid battery market. Considering the suspension of logistics around CNY holidays, dealers began to restock inventory, improving orders at major battery companies, especially for electric bicycle batteries. As such, production recovered after the New Year's Day holidays. It is expected that the average operating rate of lead-acid battery companies will increase by 2-3 percentage points month-on-month in January. Due to transportation issues before and after the CNY holidays, downstream companies have also begun stockpiling for lead ingot. It is expected that the growth in lead ingot purchase volume in January will be larger than the increase in the operating rates.