Jewelry company cross the border into lithium battery industry

In recent years, with the rapid development of new energy vehicles, chemical energy storage and other green emerging industries, battery grade lithium salt products represented by lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide and lithium chloride, as the core raw materials of the lithium battery industry, their market demand continues to grow.

Many lithium salt enterprises develop well at present. In order to enhance competitiveness and increase the diversity of future business development, Cuihua plans to lay out the new energy lithium battery industry and vigorously develop lithium salt product related businesses.

Jewelry company cross border to enter lithium battery industry

According to the data, Cuihua’s main business is the design, processing, wholesale and retail of jewelry. In the first three quarters of this year, the company achieved a total operating income of 3.238 billion RMB, up 24.3% year on year; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 34.52 million RMB, down 25.6% year on year.

SiTeRui Lithium is an company engaged in the research, development, production and sales of lithium salt products. Its main products are lithium hydroxide (including anhydrous lithium hydroxide), lithium carbonate, lithium dihydrogen phosphate and other lithium salt products.

At present, the company is one of the few manufacturers of industrial grade lithium products in China that use lithium batteries to recover lithium raw materials, salt lake lithium products, spodumene ores and lithium mica, and other lithium products with crude lithium salts.

The main customers of SiTeRui Lithium include many world-famous companies, such as ZEC, Nantong Resin, Tianli Lithium, Yuning, Sinopec, LiRMB New Material, SQM, Ronbay Technology, BTR, etc.

In terms of performance, in 2021, SiTeRui Lithium achieved an operating income of 253 million RMB and a net profit of 82.2912 million RMB. From January to June 2022, SiTeRui Lithium realized an operating revenue of 679 million RMB and a net profit of 280 million RMB.

Lithium salt price will continue to rise

As one of the important materials of energy storage battery, lithium is known as “white oil”, because it plays a very important role in the global energy green transformation and energy order remodeling. This metal element, which is the smallest and lightest in nature, has become an important part of new energy vehicle power battery and electrochemical energy storage due to its efficient energy storage.

The rapid development of new energy vehicles has led to a surge in demand for power batteries. In terms of comprehensive energy storage, environmental protection, safety and other requirements, lithium batteries have obvious advantages and are in a leading position. The intermittency and volatility of renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy have driven the rapid development of the energy storage industry.

At present, the demand for lithium batteries in the energy storage industry is also growing. With the growth of demand, the price of lithium also rises, and its price changes affect people’s hearts again and again. Lithium salts refer to lithium compounds such as lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide.

The continuous growth of the sales of new energy vehicles has driven the demand for power batteries to increase significantly, as well as the price of lithium salt to continue to rise. The battery grade lithium carbonate has risen from 40000 RMB/ton at the end of 2020 to 590000 RMB/ton on November 11, 2022.

In October 2022, China’s lithium carbonate output was 34168 tons, an increase of 4% month on month and 87% year on year; The output of lithium hydroxide was 26020 tons, up 9% month on month and 55% year on year.

In November 2022, the output of lithium carbonate was gradually recover, and the overall output of the industry rises month on month. After November, the stable production of some large smelting plants remained at a high level, and the overall lithium hydroxide supply remained flat month on month.

China’s lithium carbonate output is expected to be 37294 tons in November, up 9% month on month and 99% year on year; The output of lithium hydroxide was 26129 tons, basically flat on a month on month basis, with a year-on-year increase of 54%.

Lithium companies have remarkable achievements

In the context of rapid market development, the performance of lithium ion battery manufacturers is also very significant. Here are lithium top 100 companies in China. Affected by the sharp rise in the market prices of potassium chloride and lithium carbonate products over the same period, Salt Lake Industry’s total operating income in the third quarter of this year was 6.238 billion RMB, up 34.55% year on year.

The net profit attributable to the parent company was 2.925 billion RMB, up 82.69% year on year. During the reporting period, the company’s lithium carbonate output was about 24000 tons, and its sales volume was about 24400 tons.

In order to extend the lithium industry chain, the company started a new 40000 t/a basic lithium salt integration project based on the existing 30000 t lithium carbonate production reaching the standard, with an investment of 7.082 billion RMB.

Up to now, the new 40000 t/a basic lithium salt integration project has completed all the project approval procedures, is in the process of relevant bidding and contract signing, and is progressing as planned.

On November 10, 2022, Chengxin Lithium said that at present, the lithium salt industry has strong demand and the company’s capacity utilization is good. The company determines the quantity of outsourcing production according to the market situation, the company’s strategy and operation.

The scale of production of lithium concentrate of Oeno Mining, the company’s own mine, is about 75000 tons/year (equivalent to about 10000 tons of lithium carbonate). The Sabisan Lithium Tantalum Mine Project in Zimbabwe is preliminarily planned to produce about 200000 tons of lithium concentrate annually, which is currently under active construction.

According to the analysis, with the cold weather in the north, the lithium salt output of Qinghai salt lakes in China will be reduced after November. The stock inventory before the production of new cathode material capacity at the end of this year and early next year, as well as the impulse of new energy vehicles at the end of the year, is expected to expand the lithium salt demand at the end of the year.

It is expected that lithium salt will continue to rise under the stimulation of tight supply and demand and cost support. In addition, Argentina, Bolivia and Chile plan to establish a lithium OPEC organization and Canada will introduce stricter approval rules for foreign investment in lithium and other key metal resources, making the global competition for lithium resources increasingly tense.