As of March 20, more than 10 listed companies with lithium battery concept have disclosed their operations in the first two months of this year, and "both volume and price" has become a common feature.
Since this year, lithium battery products have been in short supply and prices have been rising. Relevant enterprises have benefited from this, and their performance has increased significantly year-on-year in the first two months of this year. While the performance of lithium battery manufacturers has increased significantly, the production cost of lithium battery industry chain is also increasing.
To this end, the Department of raw materials industry and the first Department of equipment industry of the Ministry of industry and information technology, together with the price department of the development and Reform Commission, the price supervision and Inspection Bureau of the State Administration of market supervision and the Anti Unfair Competition Bureau, recently held a symposium, requiring upstream and downstream enterprises of the lithium battery industry chain to strengthen the connection between supply and demand, work together to form a long-term and stable strategic cooperative relationship, jointly guide the rational return of lithium salt prices, and strengthen efforts to ensure market supply, Better support the healthy development of strategic emerging industries such as Shanxi Guoxin Energy Corporation Limited(600617) automobile.
A number of industry insiders said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily that the price of lithium carbonate has become calm after two months of sharp rise. With the increase of supply, the price may fall in the second quarter, and the rising market may usher in an inflection point.
lithium battery concept stocks had good performance in the first two months
According to the announcement disclosed by Yongxing Special Materials Technology Co.Ltd(002756) disclosure, from January to February 2022, the company achieved an operating revenue of about 1.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 96%; The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was about 490 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 650%.
"The substantial growth of the company's performance is mainly due to the continuous rapid development of lithium battery new energy industry, which drives the rising price of lithium carbonate." Yongxing Special Materials Technology Co.Ltd(002756) said that in the first two months of this year, the company's lithium new energy business achieved an operating revenue of about 620 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 670%; The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company increased by about 37.4 billion yuan year-on-year.
The operating data of the "two giants of lithium industry" in the first two months also live up to expectations Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) disclosure announcement shows that from January to February this year, the company achieved an operating revenue of about 3.6 billion yuan, an increase of about 260% year-on-year; The net profit attributable to the shareholders of the listed company was about 1.4 billion yuan, an increase of about 300% year-on-year; The non net profit deducted was about 1.8 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of about 1000%. The company said there were three main reasons for the sharp increase in performance. First, with the rapid development of new energy vehicles and energy storage industry, the demand of downstream customers for lithium products increased strongly. In 2021, the production and sales volume of lithium products of the company increased, and the average sales price of products increased significantly year-on-year; Second, new projects in the lithium battery sector of the company have been put into operation, and the production capacity has been gradually released; Third, the income from changes in the fair value of Pilbara and other financial assets held by the company has increased.
Tianqi Lithium Corporation(002466) disclosed data show that since 2022, affected by the substantial growth of demand and sales of downstream new energy vehicles, the selling price of the company's main lithium salt products has increased rapidly, and the product supply exceeds the demand. From January to February this year, the company's lithium concentrate output increased by about 39% year-on-year, the sales volume increased by about 56% year-on-year, the operating revenue of lithium concentrate is expected to increase by about 366% year-on-year, and the operating revenue of lithium compounds and their derivatives is expected to increase by about 492% year-on-year.
On March 18, Sinomine Resource Group Co.Ltd(002738) announced that due to the release of new production capacity, the price of lithium salt products increased, and the profitability of the company increased significantly year-on-year. According to the preliminary accounting of the company, from January to February this year, the company achieved a net profit of about 486 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 117012%.
Judging from the profitability of the previous two months, it is a foregone conclusion that the performance of lithium battery concept stocks rose sharply in the first quarter of this year. According to the continuous data of lithium salt profit tracked by Baichuan Yingfu through the cost profit model, the profit of lithium salt industry in the first quarter of this year continued to expand compared with the fourth quarter of 2021.
the price of lithium carbonate doubled in years
The soaring price of lithium salt has pushed up the cost pressure of the new energy vehicle industry. Since this year, the price of lithium salt products has been rising. In particular, the price of lithium carbonate has risen from 250000 yuan / ton at the beginning of the year to 500000 yuan / ton.
On March 19, ideal car CEO Li Xiang said on his microblog that at present, brands that have signed contracts with battery manufacturers to determine the price increase of batteries in the second quarter have basically announced the price increase immediately. "For those who have not yet raised the price, most of them have not been settled on the price increase range, and they will raise the price immediately after negotiation. The increase in battery cost in the second quarter of this year will be very outrageous."
However, since March, the rising trend of lithium carbonate price is slowing down. According to the data of business agency, on March 18, the price of industrial grade lithium carbonate was 475400 yuan / ton, and the price of battery grade lithium carbonate was 499600 yuan / ton. At present, the acceptance of high priced lithium carbonate products in the downstream market is not high. Under the condition of sufficient inventory, the downstream market basically maintains a wait-and-see state, and the attitude of purchasing at high prices tends to be cautious.
Recently, relevant departments have interviewed some lithium salt enterprises, mainly to promote the reasonable and stable operation of prices, with special emphasis on upstream enterprises to jointly promote the benign development of the industrial chain.
Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of the Ministry of industry and information technology, said not long ago that this year, we will focus on meeting the production needs of power batteries, moderately accelerate the development progress of China's lithium, nickel and other resources, and crack down on unfair competition such as hoarding and raising prices.
Qu Yinfei, lithium carbonate analyst of Shanghai Ganglian E-Commerce Holdings Co.Ltd(300226) new energy division, told the reporter of Securities Daily that in terms of cost, the prices of spodumene and lepidolite remained rising. In terms of supply, the early maintenance enterprises have resumed production and the supply has increased. It is expected that the supply in March will increase by 14.21% month on month compared with February. In terms of demand, downstream enterprises mostly produce as planned, and their willingness to take goods at high prices is reduced. Affected by the mood, it is expected that the price of lithium carbonate is expected to stabilize in the second quarter, or even decline.
lithium salt price rise or inflection point
"To promote the reasonable operation of lithium salt price, we need to increase supply." Zhang Xiang, a researcher at the automotive industry innovation research center of Northern University of technology, told the Securities Daily, "by increasing supply and regulating prices, there have been successful precedents in Jiangxi, Qinghai and other places."
In Zhang Xiang's view, the rapid rise in the price of lithium carbonate is mainly due to the shortage of supply caused by the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market. In addition, the epidemic also had a great impact on the production and transportation of lithium carbonate, further pushing up the price of lithium carbonate. However, there are many sources of lithium carbonate, and China is also rich in lithium resources. As enterprises increase supply, the price of lithium carbonate is expected to gradually stabilize. "At least not this year.".
From the perspective of supply, there has been news of the continuous release of production capacity of Listed Companies in the market. On March 18, Gotion High-Tech Co.Ltd(002074) said on the investor interaction platform that the company's lithium carbonate project was mass produced in the first quarter of this year, and the production capacity has been gradually released. The production capacity is expected to be about 10000 tons this year Yongxing Special Materials Technology Co.Ltd(002756) also revealed that the first production line of the company's phase II project with an annual output of 20000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate has entered the stage of equipment commissioning, which can achieve the goal of putting into operation 10000 tons of lithium carbonate capacity by the end of the first quarter.
Zhu Yuanzhi, a professor at the school of mechanical and material engineering of Northern University of technology, believes that the price of lithium carbonate has gradually stabilized due to factors such as government regulation and increased supply. However, in the long run, lithium ore is a non renewable resource, and the price of lithium carbonate will still be subject to the relationship between supply and demand. Therefore, while adjusting the market price by increasing the supply, it is also necessary to find new sources of alternative battery materials and recycle the existing materials
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