Yongtai Technology takes orders for lithium hexafluorophosphate, structural output contradiction is difficult to solve

On July 18, Yongtai Technology disclosed in a notice that the lithium hexafluorophosphate project of Shaowu Yongtai High-tech Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as 'Yongtai High-tech'), a holding subsidiary, has completed trial processing, and the products have passed customer verification and fulfilled sales orders. , Has begun to ship to important customers at home and abroad. Yongtai High-tech's lithium hexafluorophosphate project was built in July 2016. It plans to use its own funds of 387.6 million yuan to invest in the construction of 6000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate and 2000 tons of new lithium salt projects. The first phase of the project with an annual output of 3,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate and 1,000 tons of new lithium salt has been trial-processed in September 2017, and this supply project is exactly this phase of the project. Compared with the market situation in 2016, lithium hexafluorophosphate has experienced great ups and downs in the 'life' during the three years from 2015 to 2018. From 80,000 yuan/ton in 2015 to the highest level of 400,000 yuan/ton, it dropped from 400,000 yuan/ton to less than 150,000 yuan/ton today. At present, the quotations of different companies are different, and the low level of lithium hexafluorophosphate maintains stability, which is in the range of 100,000 to 120,000 yuan/ton. Affected by the drop in the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate, the price drop of the electrolyte is also very clear. At present, the mainstream electrolyte products are around 40,000 yuan/ton, but the price fights are relatively severe, and some companies even offer as low as 20,000 yuan/ton. The decline in the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate is related to the structural contradiction between the scarcity of high-end production and the excess production of middle and low-end products, and the cost reduction of power lithium battery companies. On the one hand, driven by the market dividend of lithium hexafluorophosphate in the past two years, many companies have swarmed in. With the release of new production in 2017 and 2018, the fundamentals are completely different from 2015 when prices were high. On the other hand, cost reduction in the power lithium battery industry chain has become an important rhythm in the next market. Battery companies are urgently demanding price cuts from upstream material suppliers. Industry insiders believe that the important reasons for the current situation of lithium hexafluorophosphate are: First, the supply of high-end lithium hexafluorophosphate is insufficient. Second, the threshold for lithium hexafluorophosphate technology is relatively high, and there are only a handful of domestic companies that master high-end lithium hexafluorophosphate technology. From a global perspective, the high-end production of lithium hexafluorophosphate is still concentrated in the hands of three Japanese giants Morita Chemical, Kanto Denka and SUTERAKEMIFA. However, the three international giants mainly supply their core customers, and their export output is not large, which cannot meet the domestic electrolyte market demand. Yongtai Technology judges that in accordance with the country's latest new energy vehicle policy, the new energy vehicle market will further expand, which will drive the rise of related upstream materials. Therefore, it is expected that the market demand for lithium hexafluorophosphate will continue to rise. Objectively speaking, as an important raw material for electrolyte, one of the four key materials, lithium hexafluorophosphate cannot be shaken. Although many companies are currently developing and even launching new types of lithium salts, they have not been able to match them in recent years. Lithium hexafluorophosphate is still the mainstream of electrolyte use. According to the statistics of the Lithium Battery Research Institute (GGII) of Advanced Industry Research Institute (GGII), the total new domestic power lithium battery output in 2017 is 95GWh, and it is expected to reach 60-65GWh in 2018. Based on this estimate, the demand for lithium hexafluorophosphate is not low, but as international giants such as Morita Chemicals increase production in China, domestic lithium hexafluorophosphate companies will face more fierce competition.