The anode material is one of the four key materials for lithium batteries, accounting for approximately 10-15% of the total cost of lithium batteries. Anode materials are made of active materials, adhesives, and additives to form a paste adhesive, which is applied on both sides of copper foil. After drying and rolling, it determines the charging and discharging efficiency, cycle life, and other properties of lithium batteries.
The detailed product structure of anode materials:
According to product structure, anode materials can mainly be divided into natural graphite, artificial graphite, and new anode materials represented by silicon-based anodes. Although natural graphite has advantages in terms of cost and specific capacity, artificial graphite has better performance in terms of cycling performance, safety performance, and charge-discharge rate. Therefore, the current anode material market is mainly dominated by artificial graphite anode materials.
Anode material shipment volume and forecast:
Driven by the strong demand for power batteries and the rise of segmented application scenarios such as energy storage power wall batteries and low-power motorcycle batteries, the overall anode material market in China is growing rapidly. In 2021, the shipment volume of China's anode material market will reach 720000 tons, a year-on-year increase of nearly double. It is predicted that by 2025, the shipment volume of anode materials in China will reach 2.8 million tons, with huge market growth potential.
Regional distribution of anode material production capacity:
From the regional distribution of production capacity, the existing anode material production capacity is mainly concentrated in East China, South China, North China, and Southwest China. Among them, East China accounts for more than 1/3 of China's anode material production capacity, mainly from Fujian Province and Jiangxi Province. The existing production capacity of both places is over 100000 tons;
Next are Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, with an existing production capacity of over 50000 tons. The existing anode material capacity in South China is mainly the capacity layout of BTR, the top ten anode material manufacturers in Guangdong Province, and Kaijin Energy, with a total capacity of more than 200000 tons.
The production capacity of North China is mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province. Benefiting from the advantages of electricity price and upstream raw materials, North China will become one of the main areas for anode material enterprises to expand production in the future.
Although the current production capacity in the southwest region is not high, thanks to the development of the power battery industry and the advantages of green electricity, when the planned production capacity of existing enterprises is fully realized, it is expected to rise to the top of the region. The existing production capacity in Central China, Northeast China, and Northwest China is relatively low. Benefiting from the electricity price advantage in the northwest region, the production capacity of anode materials in the region is expected to be improved to a certain extent in the future.
Specific provincial distribution of anode material production capacity:
According to the specific provincial distribution of anode material production capacity, the largest province at present is Guangdong Province in South China. Guangdong Province is one of the earliest regions in China to develop lithium-ion batteries, and many material companies gather here for development. The current production capacity of positive electrode materials in Guangdong Province mainly comes from Beiterui, Kaijin Energy, Xiangfenghua, Shenzhen Xinmao, etc.
Followed by Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in East China. Thanks to the power battery capacity scale in East China, a number of power battery-supporting enterprises have emerged in the region. Among them, the current production capacity of positive electrode materials in Fujian Province is about 139000 tons, mainly from the production capacity layout of enterprises such as Shanshan, Xiangfenghua, and Shenxue. The current anode material production capacity in Jiangxi Province is 120000 tons, mainly contributed by enterprises such as Jiangxi Zichen and Jiangxi Zhengtuo.
Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province in North China are also the most important investment/expansion areas for anode material enterprises. From the perspective of the preparation process of artificial graphite, it can be roughly divided into four steps: pretreatment, granulation, graphitization, and screening packaging. Among them, graphitization is a key core process in the preparation of artificial graphite and also a high energy consumption process.
The cost of graphitization processing accounts for about half of the total manufacturing cost of artificial graphite anode materials, and the electricity price accounts for over 60% of the graphitization cost. Therefore, Inner Mongolia and Shanxi Province in North China, with relatively low electricity prices, labor costs, land location, raw materials, and other factors, have become important gathering places of China's graphitization capacity.
The existing graphitization production capacity in the two regions accounts for more than half of China's total production capacity, attracting a large number of enterprises to land one after another, including Shanshan Group, Jiangxi Zichen, Shenzhen Snow, Xinyuan Graphite, Shangtai Technology, Hengke New Materials, etc.
Conclusion:
In the future, the southwestern region with the advantage of green power resources is expected to become the main gathering area for anode material production capacity. The current anode material production capacity in the southwest region is about 135000 tons, mainly from enterprises such as Zhongke Xingcheng, Beiterirui, and Sichuan Jintai.
Benefiting from the development of the power battery industry and the advantages of hydropower in the southwestern region, various enterprises have successively laid out their presence in the region. Among them, the planned production capacity of anode materials in Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou will reach 1.5 million tons, 1.1 million tons, and 900000 tons respectively. The total amount far exceeds that of other regions, becoming an investment/expansion destination for anode material enterprises.
Anode materials are different from other materials and belong to high energy-consuming industries. Due to the impact of the "double limit" policy, there are strict restrictions on high energy-consuming projects in various parts of China. Large companies have successively entered the market, including upstream raw materials or anode materials, photovoltaic, engineering machinery, ceramics, and other related enterprises. The existing planned production capacity is already large enough, and the trend of structural overcapacity in the future will become increasingly prominent.
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