After entering 2022, the price of lithium carbonate continues to jump, which can be said to be one price a day.
According to the data released by Shanghai Ganglian E-Commerce Holdings Co.Ltd(300226) , on February 9, the quotation of some lithium battery materials rose again, and the price of electrolytic cobalt rose by 5800 yuan / ton; Lithium carbonate rose 10000 yuan / ton, and the average price was 390000 yuan / ton; Lithium hydroxide increased by 10000 yuan / ton; In terms of positive electrode, lithium manganate increased by 7500 yuan / ton to 8500 yuan / ton.
In this regard, Shanghai Ganglian E-Commerce Holdings Co.Ltd(300226) new energy division lithium analyst Qu Yinfei told the Securities Daily that as of February 9, the average market price of battery lithium carbonate was 390000 yuan / ton, an increase of 34.48% over the beginning of this year, and the average market price of industrial grade lithium carbonate was 377500 yuan / ton, an increase of 39.81% over the beginning of this year. The enterprise has its own sales strategy. When the market is in short supply, the enterprise mostly ships according to the plan, and the production enterprise still has low inventory, which is mostly its own “warning inventory”.
Xiangcai Securities Research Report also said that the hot sales of new energy vehicles led to a surge in demand, while the rigid supply of lithium ore benefited from the soaring product prices under the contradiction between supply and demand.
lithium giants accelerate the layout of lithium mines
Trapped by the bottleneck of lithium resources, lithium giants had to accelerate the layout of lithium mines.
On February 8, A-share lithium giant Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) announced that the company and GFL International Co., Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Ganfeng international”) signed a cooperation agreement with process minerals International Pty Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “PMI”), which agreed that PMI would provide the company with spodumene underwritten by it in MT Marion spodumene project, and the company would process it into lithium compound products agreed by both parties, and the company would be responsible for sales. At present, the company and PMI each hold 50% equity of reed industrial minerals Pty Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “rim”) in Australia. Rim’s mtmarion spodumene project is one of the largest spodumene producers in the world.
Recently, the company received a notice from rim that RIM’s management is considering the technical transformation and expansion of the capacity of MT Marion spodumene project through the optimization of production process and the development of contact minerals. The expansion project is preliminarily expected to be put into operation in the second half of 2022, and the original capacity scale is expected to increase by 10% to 15%. In addition, the capacity of contact minerals will be increased, It is expected to increase the capacity scale by an additional 10% to 15%.
In this regard, Qu Yinfei said that Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) has locked in 100% supply of MT Marion, and the expansion of production capacity provides a guarantee for its own development, while the resources that are not sold out cannot improve the situation that the market is in short supply.
In addition to Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) , Sinomine Resource Group Co.Ltd(002738) also announced on February 8 that it plans to acquire the equity of bikita lithium mine in Zimbabwe, with a transaction price of up to US $180 million.
According to the announcement, bikita lithium mine project is in the production stage, and the main products are technical grade lithium permeable feldspar concentrate and cesium garnet concentrate with high grade and low impurities. The beneficiation capacity of the target company is 700000 T / A.
“The competition of listed companies for lithium resources will promote the price of lithium ore in the short term.” Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the automotive industry innovation research center of Northern University of technology, told the Securities Daily that in the long run, with the continuous development of lithium resources and the gradual satisfaction of market demand, the price of lithium ore is expected to fall steadily.
power battery demand soared
Since last year, the new energy vehicle industry has ushered in explosive growth. Benefiting from this, the demand for power batteries has soared.
According to the data released by China automotive power battery industry innovation alliance, the cumulative output of China Shipbuilding Industry Group Power Co.Ltd(600482) batteries in 2021 was 219.7gwh, a year-on-year increase of 163.4%; The sales volume was 186.0gwh, with a year-on-year increase of 182.3%; The loading volume was 154.5gwh, with a year-on-year increase of 142.8%.
Zhu Yuanzhi, a professor at the school of mechanical and material engineering of Beijing University of technology, told the Securities Daily that driven by the demand for new energy batteries, the demand for lithium resources continued to rise. Since lithium is a non renewable resource, with the continuous release of the demand for new energy vehicles, the price of lithium ore is expected to remain high.
For this year’s new energy vehicle market, industry insiders are expected to maintain high-profile development.
Citic Securities Company Limited(600030) believes that the new energy industry is gradually shifting from subsidy driven to market driven. The decline in the cost of new energy vehicles will accelerate the popularization of electric vehicles, and the demand for power batteries is expected to increase. At the same time, with the deepening of energy structure transformation and the rapid growth of energy storage demand, the decline of battery energy storage cost is also expected to accelerate the penetration of lithium batteries in the field of energy storage. Under the background of high prosperity of power batteries and accelerated development of energy storage, we are optimistic about the expansion of demand for lithium battery materials.
“How to improve the recyclability of lithium batteries is not an important issue in the current automobile industry,” Zhu said. “The rise in lithium prices also means that it is not an important issue for Yuanji to improve the recycling rate of lithium batteries.
