Upstream raw materials soared by 800%! Giants such as BASF, Wanhua, and Sinopec have entered this market one after another!

01BASF

On October 25, Honeycomb Energy and BASF announced that they have reached cooperation in the development of cathode materials, raw material supply, and battery recycling within the scope of their global operations. This cooperation will enhance the R&D strength of both parties in the field of sustainable development of battery materials, and consolidate the core competitiveness of both parties in China, the largest battery market and globally.

On August 31, BASF and Shanshan Co., Ltd. jointly established a joint venture "BASF Shanshan Battery Materials Co., Ltd.". At present, BASF Shanshan is already a leading company in the cathode material industry in China, with its main products lithium cobalt oxide and ternary battery materials at the forefront of the industry.

02 Wanhua Chemical

On September 9, the Management Committee of Meishan High-tech Industrial Park made the first public announcement on the environmental impact assessment of Wanhua Chemical (Sichuan) Co., Ltd.'s "50,000 tons of lithium iron phosphate lithium battery cathode material integration project". The project mainly builds 50,000 tons/year iron phosphate, 50,000 tons/year lithium iron phosphate and supporting equipment. The construction site is located in Meishan High-tech Industrial Park, Sichuan Province.

On September 3, Wanhua Chemical announced that the company's own intellectual property rights POE products have completed the pilot test. According to the current plan, Wanhua Chemical will put into production of 100,000 tons of POE per year in 2023, and put into production a total of 200,000 tons of POE per year by 2025. Wanhua Chemical’s POE pilot test products already have good performance.

EVA film and POE film are currently the mainstream photovoltaic packaging materials, but due to the limitation of technical level, there are no POE manufacturers in China.

03 Longbai Group

As the leader of the titanium dioxide sector, the fiery enthusiasm of the new energy materials sector has also attracted the attention of Longbai Group, and it has quickly deployed the sector.

In the first half of 2021, Longbai Group acquired 100% of the shares of Henan Zhongtan New Materials, taking advantage of Zhongtan New Materials to enter the graphite anode industry, and formally enter the new energy field; in addition to the acquisition, the company is also planning to cooperate with Hubei Wanrun New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. established a joint venture in Nanzhang County, Hubei to build a 100,000-ton iron phosphate project; at the same time, it planned three new energy projects with an annual output of 200,000 tons of battery material grade iron phosphate projects and an annual output of 200,000 tons of lithium ion Battery material industrialization project, artificial graphite anode material project for lithium-ion batteries with an annual output of 100,000 tons.

04 Shenghong Group

The annual production capacity of EVA under Shenghong Group's Serbon Petrochemical reached 300,000 tons, accounting for 31% of the total domestic production capacity, of which the photovoltaic-grade EVA capacity exceeded 200,000 tons, accounting for 28.6% of the global photovoltaic-grade EVA production. The company is planning to expand its EVA production capacity to 1 million tons per year to further replace imports, increase self-sufficiency, and provide a stable guarantee for the country's clean energy transition.

05 Sinopec

On September 3, the Maoming Municipal Bureau of Ecology and Environment announced on its official website the acceptance announcement of the "Environmental Impact Report on the 1,000 Ton/Year Polyolefin Elastomer (POE) Pilot Project of Maoming Branch". The construction unit, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation Maoming Branch, as the main body of implementation, plans to build a 1,000-ton/year polyolefin elastomer (POE) pilot plant, including 1,000-ton/year POE pilot plant, public works and auxiliary facilities.

06 Science and Culture Workers

On October 25, Li Wenhua Engineering issued an announcement that Liwen International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, and Ruichang Municipal Government signed a "20,000 tons of PVDF and 10,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate project" agreement to develop chemical business in Ruichang City, Jiangxi Province. The planned production scale of the project is an annual output of 20,000 tons of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), 10,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), and a newly built annual output of 50,000 tons of hydrogen fluoride.

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In addition, traditional chemical companies have used phosphorus, iron and other technology and cost advantages to cut into lithium battery raw materials. According to incomplete statistics, currently Chuanfa Lomon, Chuanheng Co., Ltd., Xingfa Group, Yuntu Holdings, Xinyangfeng, Hubei Yihua, Sierte, Chuanjinnuo, Yuntianhua, Xingfa Group, Fengyuan Stock and other traditional Chemical companies have entered the iron phosphate or lithium iron phosphate industrial chain in different forms.

Industry insiders said that carbon neutrality and carbon peaking are both a continuous hot spot in the world. Although many companies have expanded production or cross-border entry, regardless of lithium family products, or EVA, PVDF and other products, their technical barriers are relatively high. Ideally, the photovoltaic EVA production cycle is 3.5-4 years, of which The construction period is 2 years, and the commissioning period is 1.5-2 years. In other words, the near-term thirst cannot be overcome in the short term, and the high prices driven by tight supply will continue.