The soaring price of lithium salt makes upstream manufacturers earn a lot.
On March 30, Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) disclosed in the annual report that the company achieved a revenue of 11.162 billion yuan in 2021, an increase of 102.07% year-on-year; The net profit was 5.228 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 410.26%. It is planned to distribute a cash dividend of 3.00 yuan for every 10 shares to all shareholders and increase 4 shares.
In recent years, due to the rapid development of new energy vehicles and energy storage systems and the rising demand for power batteries, the demand for lithium iron phosphate materials and ternary materials has expanded rapidly,
The demand for electric vehicles and power batteries will be released and converted into actual production, further stimulating the demand for lithium.
Among them, lithium hydroxide has become the main growth power of lithium compounds due to the rapid development of high nickel ternary batteries. According to the Research Report of Minmetals securities, the global demand for lithium hydroxide monohydrate in 2021 is about 200000 tons, including about 175000 tons in the field of lithium-ion batteries. It is estimated that the total global demand for lithium hydroxide will increase significantly to 704000 tons in 2025, with a compound average annual growth rate of about 37% from 2021 to 2025.
The industry has gradually changed from supply-demand balance to tight supply. Stimulated by the relative tight supply of lithium compounds and the rise of industrial demand, the price of lithium compounds has continued to rise since 2021, in which the price of lithium carbonate shows a more obvious upward trend than that of lithium hydroxide.
According to the data of business agency, lithium carbonate products rose fiercely in 2021. The prices of lithium carbonate products were in the upward range all year round, and the prices soared near the end of the year. On December 31, 2021, the average price of industrial grade lithium carbonate in East China was 266000 yuan / ton, which was 432% higher than that at the beginning of the year (the average price of industrial grade lithium carbonate in East China was 50000 yuan / ton on January 1, 2021). On December 31, 2021, the average price of battery grade lithium carbonate in East China was 282000 yuan / ton, which was 416.48% higher than that at the beginning of the year (the average price of battery grade lithium carbonate in East China was 54600 yuan / ton on January 1, 2021).
Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) is a leading company that started from the manufacturing of lithium compounds and metal lithium in the middle reaches and successfully expanded to the upstream and downstream of the industrial value chain. The company has formed a vertically integrated business model, which runs through the development of lithium resources in the upstream, the deep processing of lithium salts and metal lithium smelting in the middle reaches, the manufacturing of lithium batteries in the downstream and the comprehensive recycling of retired lithium batteries. At present, the company has an effective capacity of 28000 tons / year of lithium carbonate, 70000 tons / year of lithium hydroxide and 2150 tons / year of metal lithium.
In order to meet the rapidly growing market demand for lithium products, Ganfeng Lithium Co.Ltd(002460) through the technical transformation of existing production lines and the construction of new production lines to further expand the production capacity, so as to expand the company's global market share and meet the growing demand of customers for the company's products. According to the annual report, the company plans to accelerate the capacity expansion of lithium compounds and lithium resources projects and form a lithium product supply capacity with an annual output of 300000 tons of LCE in 2025, including lithium extraction from ore, brine and clay. The company is optimistic about the long-term development of the global lithium market, and will form a lithium product supply capacity of no less than Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co.Ltd(600000) tons of LCE in the future, as well as a more competitive lithium resource project reserve matching it.
At the same time, the company is also actively distributing upstream lithium resources. During the reporting period, the company continued to obtain high-quality lithium resources in the global upstream, continuously enriched and expanded the diversified supply of raw materials, made an offer to acquire bacanora and obtained its control, acquired 100% of the property share of Yili Hongda, indirectly held 49% equity of Qinghai Yiliping Salt Lake project, and acquired 50% equity of goulamina spodumene mine project in Mali, Actively explore diversified lithium resource supply.
In 2022, the company will actively promote the development and construction of cauchari olaroz lithium salt lake project in Argentina. The project is planned to be put into trial production this year. During the reporting period, the Mariana lithium salt lake project in Argentina has successfully obtained the approval of the environmental impact report issued by the Salta provincial government of Argentina, and the project construction has been started. Meanwhile, the company will further accelerate the construction of Sonora lithium clay project in Mexico in 2022, and strive to build the project into a leading project for lithium extraction from clay in the world.
Qi Haili, President of Beijing Teyi sunshine new energy, said in an interview with the reporter of Securities Daily that at present, the acceleration of electrification of fuel vehicles and the gradual expansion of the ownership of global new energy vehicles are a deterministic development trend. The future growth space of lithium battery sector is also a deterministic incremental market, and its future development space is worth looking forward to.
