Analysis of the price war and competitive characteristics of the lithium battery separator industry

Analysis of the price war and competitive characteristics of the lithium battery separator industry. Lithium battery separator market: A fierce price war may be inevitable, and the market gross profit rate will drop significantly. The performance of the diaphragm determines the interface structure and internal resistance of the battery, and directly affects the capacity, cycle and safety performance of the lithium battery. A diaphragm with excellent performance plays an important role in improving the overall performance of the lithium battery. Lithium battery diaphragm In the structure of lithium battery, the diaphragm is one of the key inner layer components. For the lithium battery series, since the electrolyte is an organic solvent system, a separator material resistant to organic solvents is required. Generally, a high-strength thin-film polyolefin porous film is used. Lithium battery separators are generally divided into dry process and wet process according to the process. Therefore, the separator products are also divided into dry process and wet process. Diaphragm is one of the important components of lithium-ion batteries. It is also commonly referred to as battery diaphragm, diaphragm paper, ion separation membrane, etc., and is in the upstream part of the new energy automobile industry chain. Generally speaking, due to the high unit cost of positive and negative materials in ternary batteries, the cost of the separator accounts for less than 10%, and the unit cost of positive and negative materials in lithium iron phosphate batteries is relatively low, and the cost of the separator accounts for about 15%. Among lithium battery materials, diaphragm technology barriers and gross profit margins are relatively high, and it is also the last material to achieve localization. Price war in the lithium battery diaphragm industry Recently, many lithium battery diaphragm companies have released performance reports. Driven by the rapid development of the new energy vehicle and power battery industries, many diaphragm companies have made a lot of money. With the gradual commissioning of new production capacity, my country's lithium battery separator market may experience a serious oversupply situation. At that time, market competition for lithium battery separators will further intensify, fierce price wars may be inevitable, and market gross profit margins will drop significantly. The production process of lithium battery separators has high technical barriers. Its cost accounts for about 10%-20% of the cost of lithium-ion batteries, and its gross profit margin exceeds 30%. It is the product with the highest gross profit margin among the four major materials. Most of the diaphragm market is occupied by foreign companies. Fortunately, in recent years, with the technological advancement of domestic battery material companies, the localization rate of diaphragms has continued to increase, from 90% in 2017 to 93% in 2018, and the process of replacing imported diaphragms with domestic diaphragms has further accelerated. At present, the price of diaphragm manufactured by dry process is already very low, at about 5 yuan/square meter, and the price will continue to fall in the future. The profit margin is already very low; the price of wet process diaphragm is 10-12 yuan/square meter, wet There are almost no domestic companies that have large-scale production of diaphragms produced by the French process. At present, the gross profit rate of this business can reach 50%. The four major competitive characteristics of the lithium battery separator industry. From the perspective of technological progress, my country’s lithium-ion battery separators have made major breakthroughs in dry process and have world-class manufacturing levels. The wet process technology of separators has also been continuously improved in recent years. In the coming years, production capacity and output have increased steadily. With the continuous development of wet process technology, the competitive landscape of my country's lithium battery separator industry has also undergone some changes. Feature 1: The proportion of wet-process diaphragm production is increasing year by year. From the perspective of the process itself, dry-process diaphragms and wet-process diaphragms have their own advantages and disadvantages. Dry-process diaphragms have greater advantages in terms of production process, cost, environmental protection, and economy. Wet-process diaphragms It has the advantages of low short-circuit rate, wide controllable range of porosity and air permeability. In recent years, with the increase in the proportion of ternary lithium batteries, the proportion of wet diaphragm production has also steadily increased. In view of the respective characteristics of dry-process diaphragms and wet-process diaphragms, the future demand for wet-process diaphragms will gradually expand, but it will not completely replace dry-process diaphragms in a short period of time. Feature 2: High Concentration of Shipments. In terms of shipment volume, in 2017, my country’s dry-process and wet-process diaphragm companies have a relatively high level of corporate concentration, especially for wet-process diaphragms, the top three companies’ shipments. The proportion reached 71%, and the top five accounted for 87%; the top three companies in the dry process membrane accounted for 42%, and the top five accounted for 55%. Feature 3: Obvious regional production capacity Judging from the current regional distribution of lithium battery separator materials companies in my country, the overall concentration is relatively high, mainly in East China and Central China, with a production capacity of 48% and 27% respectively; South China's production capacity There are also 10%, and other regions are all below 10%. Feature 4: Accelerating production capacity expansion and intensifying competition in the future According to the data, as of the end of 2017, the domestic production capacity of lithium battery separators has been confirmed to be about 2.9 billion square meters. According to the current production capacity, the major companies with larger production capacity are Hunan Zhongli, Shanghai Enjie, Xingyuan Materials, Zhongxing New Materials, Tianjin Donggao, Suzhou Jieli, Henan Yiteng, etc., with a production capacity of 200 million square meters. Above, the total production capacity is 1.928 billion square meters, accounting for more than 67%. The above is the analysis of the price war and competitive characteristics of the lithium battery separator industry. The price of lithium battery separators is in a melee. It is expected that 30% of battery separator companies will be eliminated this year.