"evil gas" lithium hexafluorophosphate

As one of the most scarce key materials in the lithium battery industry, the prestige of lithium hexafluorophosphate continues.

Benefiting from the surge in downstream power battery demand, the market price of lithium hexafluorophosphate has soared, from less than 70,000 yuan / ton in July 2020 to more than 400000 yuan / ton in July 2021, an increase of more than 500% in one year. According to market data, the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate has recently risen to about 600000 yuan / ton, an increase of an astonishing 800%.

From the demand side, according to industry statistics, the global demand for lithium hexafluorophosphate is 72600 tons in 2021, and it is estimated that the demand for lithium hexafluorophosphate will reach 365600 tons by 2025. From the supply side, the global effective production capacity of lithium hexafluorophosphate in 2021 is about 68600 tons. The contradiction between supply and demand may persist for a long time.

Giants such as Ningde / BYD compete for lithium hexafluorophosphate

Nowadays, battery companies have increased their binding to the upstream in order to ensure a stable supply of materials. On January 12, Shao Wuyong Taigao New Materials Co., Ltd. experienced industrial and commercial changes, the original shareholder PCCW Hengtong withdrew, and the new shareholder Ningde era, with a shareholding ratio of 25%. Previously, Pacific Century Hengtong, a shareholder of Yongtai Technology holding subsidiary, planned to transfer its 25% stake in Yongtai High-tech to Ningde Times at a price of 500 million yuan. At this point, the Ningde era officially bought shares in Yong Tai Xin.

In fact, as early as last August, Ningde era signed an agreement with Yongtai Technology, which will purchase lithium hexafluorophosphate, lithium difluorosulfonimide (LIFSI) and vinyl carbonate (VC) products from Yongtai Technology for a supply period of up to five years. In addition, Ningde Times also signed an agreement with Divine Materials, which will supply Ningde Times with a corresponding quantity of electrolyte products with an estimated use of 15000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate, with a corresponding battery capacity of 100GWh grade.

In addition to the Ningde era, "competitor" BYD is also increasing its procurement of lithium hexafluorophosphate. Two months ago, BYD signed an agreement with DFD that from January 2022 to December 2025, BYD will purchase no less than 56050 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate products from DFD, with the corresponding battery capacity expected to be about 448GWh.

Earlier, BYD had signed a procurement contract with Dofurdo for no less than 6460 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate. At the same time, BYD also signed a procurement agreement with Jiujiujiu Technology, a holding subsidiary of Yan'an Bikang Company. The latter promised to supply not less than 1150 tons to BYD from July to December 2021, not less than 3360 tons in 2022, and no less than 3360 tons in 2023.

In addition, BYD also signed an agreement with Jiangsu Xintai material Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Skyline, on the long-term supply of lithium hexafluorophosphate. According to the agreement, Xintai Materials will supply not less than 3500 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate to BYD from July 2021 to December 2022 and 3600,7800 tons in 2023.

Acceleration of production expansion of lithium hexafluorophosphate

Driven by strong demand, there is a huge gap in the production capacity of lithium hexafluorophosphate. According to industry estimates, the supply gap of lithium hexafluorophosphate will be 17000 tons in 2022, 35000 tons in 2023, and more than 60, 000 tons in 2024. Recently, relevant domestic manufacturers have set foot in and expanded the production of lithium hexafluorophosphate, and the market capacity expansion is expected to continue to heat up.

According to China's understanding of the battery, the current production capacity of Yan'an Bikang lithium hexafluorophosphate has reached 6400 tons / year. Yongtai High-tech has put into production of 8000 tons / year of lithium hexafluorophosphate and 900tons / year of lithium difluorosulfonimide, and is under construction of 67000 tons / year of liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate and 67000 tons / year of liquid lithium difluorosulfonimide. The project has a construction period of two years.

On January 12, the Ecological Environment Bureau of Suizhou City, Hubei Province announced for the first time the environmental impact assessment of the 3000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate construction project of Hubei Lithium hexafluorophosphate Co., Ltd. In December last year, Tianji announced that its subsidiary Xintai Materials signed a letter of intent with Jiangsu Changshu New Materials Industrial Park and Jiangsu Ruitai New Materials, agreeing to invest 30000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate and lithium salt materials such as LiF and calcium chloride. The total investment of the project is expected to be 3 billion yuan.

Earlier, Shi Da Shenghua said in November last year that at present, the company's Shenghua New Energy 5000 tons / year lithium hexafluorophosphate project (phase I) 2000 tons / year lithium hexafluorophosphate plant has reached production, 5000 tons / year lithium hexafluorophosphate project (phase II) 3000 tons / year lithium hexafluorophosphate project started construction, preparations are under way before the relevant construction.

In addition, Tianci announced in November last year that the liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate plant with an annual production capacity of 150000 tons and the electrolyte mother liquor preparation device with an annual capacity of 150000 tons have completed the installation and commissioning of the production equipment and have the conditions for trial production. In addition, Shenzhen Xinxing announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary Songyan Metallurgy plans to invest 700 million yuan to build a lithium hexafluorophosphate project with an annual capacity of 15000 tons in Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province.

Industry analysts believe that the new energy vehicle industry will continue to expand. Assuming that China's new energy vehicle sales will reach 35% of the total vehicle sales in 2025, the corresponding new energy vehicle sales will be 9.16 million in 2025, and there is huge room for growth in the installed capacity of power batteries. In the case of continuous demand in the industry in the future, it is expected that the relationship between supply and demand of lithium hexafluorophosphate will continue to be tight, driving the price of the product to run at a high level.