Electrolyte Additive VC Out of Stock Tracking

Following DMC (Dimethyl Carbonate), EC (Ethylene Carbonate), and Lithium Hexafluorophosphate, the electrolyte was choked by the additive VC (Vinylene Carbonate). Gaogong Lithium has learned that since the beginning of the year, the supply of electrolyte additives VC has continued to be tight and prices have risen sharply. This has led to an increase in the purchasing pressure of downstream electrolyte manufacturers, and the company's production and supply have been greatly affected. A senior electrolyte industry person said that the current VC market price has risen to 200,000 yuan/ton, and the price of small companies is even as high as 240,000 yuan/ton, which is 33% higher than the average market price of 150,000 yuan last year- 60%, and there is still an upward trend. 'Whether VC prices will rise further depends on market supply and demand. The current downstream market demand is strong, but the upstream effective output is limited. Many small and medium-sized electrolyte companies may not be able to get the goods in the later period. It is expected that the tight supply of VC will continue. By the first half of next year.' An electrolyte additive executive said. The electrolyte is mainly composed of three parts: lithium salt, solvent and functional additives. A small amount of film-forming additives is added to the electrolyte, which can preferentially reduce and decompose on the carbon negative electrode to form an excellent SEI film, which effectively inhibits solvent molecules from forming on the electrode. The continuous decomposition of the surface improves the performance of the carbon anode. The commonly used electrolyte additives mainly include three types: vinylene carbonate (VC), fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and propylene sulfite (PS). At present, the weight of additives in the total electrolyte is about 5%, and VC can improve the capacity, rate performance, normal temperature and high temperature cycle performance, HPPC performance, etc. of lithium-ion batteries, and the application proportion is relatively high. Preliminary survey statistics by the Advanced Industry Research Institute of Lithium Battery Research (GGII) show that in 2020, my country’s electrolyte market will ship 250,000 tons, a year-on-year increase of 38%. Calculated based on the proportion of 5%, the domestic shipment of electrolyte additives in 2020 is about 14,600 tons, an increase of 27% year-on-year. The important reasons for the tight supply of VC and the price increase due to the shortage of stocks are: on the supply side, because the previous market demand for VCs was relatively small, the price war was fiercely competitive, and the production was strictly controlled by environmental protection inspections, resulting in a batch of products last year. VC production companies cut production and stopped production, and it was difficult to resume production in the later period, which greatly reduced the overall supply of VC. On the other hand, on the demand side, since the fourth quarter of last year, the sales of electric vehicles have risen sharply year-on-year to drive the continuous increase in the installed capacity of power lithium batteries; entering 2021, the power lithium battery market will continue to rise at a high level, superimposed on electric light vehicles and shared power exchanges. , 5G base station energy storage and other fields, the demand for lithium-ion batteries has risen sharply, and the demand for upstream additives VC has surged. 'Last year, many VC companies stopped production and reduced production, which led to a reduction in overall supply. However, it is more difficult for companies to quickly resume production, resulting in a current shortage of VC supply and price increases.' Xianghe Kunlun Chairman Guo Yingjun told Gaogong Lithium that this year's VC market The surge in demand is mainly driven by the sharp increase in LFP battery shipments. However, the resumption and expansion cycle of chemical companies is relatively long and the production process is more complicated. It is expected that there will be a large gap in VC supply this year. Gaogong Lithium has learned that there are relatively few domestic companies involved in VC production at present, mainly in Jiangsu Huasheng, Suzhou Huayi, Huaian Hankang, Nantong Xinzhoubang, Qingmu High-tech, Zhejiang Tianshuo, Fujian Chuangxin, Fujian Bohong Waiting for a few companies, and the general output is about 1,000-2,000 tons/year, it is estimated that the current domestic output will not exceed 15,000 tons. Relevant data shows that from 2016 to 2019, the domestic VC output was 1826.0 tons, 2377.5 tons, 3014.6 tons and 3825.5 tons, respectively. The market demand continued to rise but the total amount was relatively small. 'The demand for VC is relatively small, the price is relatively low, and it is strictly controlled by environmental protection, which makes many companies unwilling to mass-produce VC, and the new production line has to go through layers of approvals. The environmental protection pressure is relatively high. There is a shortage of supply in a short period of time.' Luo Jian, deputy general manager of Fujian Bohong, told Gaogong Lithium that although the demand for VC in the power lithium battery market has greatly increased this year, the effective output of the supply side is currently limited, and the release of new production is slow. Supply is still tight. According to Luo Jian, Fujian Bohong’s existing VC output was 1,000 tons. Last year, production was suspended due to the relocation of the plant and the low demand in the downstream market. From June this year, it will release all 600-700 tons of supply. At the same time, the second phase of the project is under construction. 1,000 tons is expected to be put into production next year. Industry insiders pointed out that since electrolyte additives are often customized to match the electrolyte, the formulations of each company are different, so electrode fluid additives are generally products with less price elasticity. Before the downstream market demand is fully formed, it is difficult for electrolyte additives to quickly achieve large-scale increase in volume. However, VC has stricter requirements in environmental assessment construction, production technology, purification technology, storage technology, and product verification. The technical barriers are relatively high, which has caused the company to be more cautious in expanding production. 'On the one hand, the project construction cycle is long and production is difficult. On the other hand, the company has just stepped out of low prices and the company has not dared to expand production on a large scale.' Luo Jian believes that the tight supply of VC may improve in the third quarter. But the overall supply is still tight. Objectively speaking, the significant increase in shipments of LFP batteries in the fields of electric vehicles, electric light vehicles, shared battery swaps, and 5G base stations will drive the rapid increase in VC market demand, but the supply bottleneck of VC will also become an obstacle to the further rise of the LFP battery market . Some insiders believe that under the continued tight supply of VC and the pressure of price increases, it is not ruled out that some OEMs will switch models that originally used LFP batteries to the ternary system, which has caused the rise of LFP batteries in the power market to be less than expected.