Lithium salt prices are under pressure, Ganfeng Lithium's net profit fell 16.73% last year

The sharp drop in the price of lithium salt is an important factor for lithium product companies to increase revenue but not profit. On March 28th, Ganfeng Lithium (002460) announced its 2018 annual report. During the reporting period, it achieved revenue of 5.004 billion yuan, an increase of 14.15% year-on-year; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 1.223 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 16.73% . In 2018, my country's lithium salt market price also showed a 'roller coaster' change. The price of lithium salt has been in a downward channel, allowing lithium salt companies to collectively step out of the era of 'lying down and making money'. In 2018, Ganfeng Lithium Industry frequently took action and carried out the lithium industry value chain layout of extraction from upstream lithium resources-deep production of lithium compounds-metal lithium processing-lithium ion battery processing-lithium secondary utilization and recycling, and created a set of The Ganfeng ecosystem further enhances the company's competitive advantages in the lithium industry chain. At the same time, Ganfeng Lithium successfully completed the issuance of overseas listed foreign shares (H shares) and was listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, becoming the first 'lithium concept' stock on the main board of Hong Kong and the only 'A+' company in my country's lithium industry. H' share listed company. In detail, in terms of upstream lithium resources, Ganfeng Lithium's global lithium mine resource layout has been established in Australia, Argentina, Ireland and my country’s Qinghai, Jiangxi and other places through acquisitions, capital increase acquisitions, and underwriting agreements. Controlled multiple high-quality lithium resources and formed a stable, high-quality, and diversified raw material supply system. Obtaining a sufficient and stable source of supply of lithium raw materials has provided guarantee for Ganfeng Lithium's production expansion and reduction of raw material costs, and increased product profitability. In terms of lithium business development, Ganfeng Lithium has successively signed strategic cooperation agreements with Tesla, BMW, LG Chem and other international car companies and battery companies, and will supply tens of thousands of tons of lithium hydroxide products to the above companies in the next few years. Supply guarantee for its future performance will continue to rise In terms of lithium-ion batteries, Ganfeng Lithium invested in the construction of a first-generation solid-state lithium-ion battery research and development pilot processing line with an annual output of 100 million watt-hours. It is planned to be completed and put into production in 2019, which will accelerate the development of solid-state lithium-ion battery technology. Commercialization process. At the same time, Ganfeng Lithium is also actively deploying the lithium-ion battery recycling business. The waste lithium-ion battery dismantling and rare and precious metal comprehensive recovery project invested and constructed by Ganfeng Recycling was industrialized in 2018, and the first phase has formed 34,000 tons of recycling. Solving capabilities have further enriched the company's source of lithium raw materials. Ganfeng Lithium said that in 2018, based on the changes in the lithium carbonate market, the company took the initiative to reduce the production of lithium carbonate and increased the production of lithium hydroxide at the same time. The important thing is that the subsidy policy is tilted towards high-energy density batteries, which has led to a substantial increase in the installed capacity of ternary batteries, and a significant decline in the market share of lithium iron phosphate batteries, which in turn has an impact on the shipments and prices of lithium carbonate. At present, the domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate price has remained stable at around 75-82 thousand yuan/ton, a drop of more than 50% from the price of 164,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of 2018; the price of lithium hydroxide is around 99-1112 yuan/ton, which is more than At the beginning of 2018, 148,500 yuan/ton fell by 27%, and market demand was weak. It is worth noting that the new subsidy policy will be implemented in 2019, and the subsidy amount will be cut in half compared with 2018. Power lithium battery companies will face tremendous pressure to reduce costs. Under this circumstance, OEMs may re-select more cost-effective lithium iron phosphate batteries for some models to replace ternary batteries with higher cobalt content, which will boost the market demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries, which is expected to promote The price of lithium carbonate rebounded. At present, there is a two-level differentiation between large manufacturers and small and medium-sized companies in the lithium carbonate market. Large manufacturers have ample and stable orders, and prices remain firm. In order to seize market prices, small and medium-sized companies have relatively low prices, so the trading range of lithium carbonate is relatively large. The industry believes that with the gradual investment in new production, the production of lithium carbonate in the market is gradually increasing, and the current market demand is relatively stable, lithium salt will still maintain a low price for a period of time in a short period of time. Lithium salt company's 2019 performance is still under pressure.