China’s Li-ion battery industry exhibited high-speed growth during the first half of 2022. One major growth driver was the domestic policies related to capping carbon emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. Another major growth driver was the surging downstream demand.
On August 5, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) posted a notice on its website detailing the performance of the domestic Li-ion battery industry in the first half of 2022. The MIIT said that based on data and analyses from industry associations and market research firms, China’s Li-ion battery production for the first half of 2022 grew by around 150% year on year to more than 280GWh. The revenue of the country’s Li-ion battery industry also reached above RMB 480 billion for the same period.
By application, the domestic production of Li-ion batteries for energy storage came to around 32GWh for the first half of 2022. The domestic production of Li-ion batteries for powering NEVs came to around 110GWh for the same period. China’s exports of Li-ion battery products grew by 75% year on year for the first half-year period.
Regarding tier-1 upstream materials, the domestic production figures for cathode materials, anode materials, separator materials, and electrolytes reached 730,000 tons, 550,000 tons, 5.6 billion square meters, and 340,000 tons respectively for the first half of 2022. The production of tier-1 upstream materials showed a year-on-year growth rate of more than 55%.
Regarding tier-2 upstream materials, the domestic production of lithium carbonate rose by 34% year on year to 150,000 tons for the first half of 2022. The domestic production of lithium hydroxide also rose by 25% to 102,000 tons for the same period. The average prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide (micronized) came to RMB 445,000 per ton and RMB 432,000 per ton respectively for the first half-year period. They were fluctuating within the high range.
