The price of cobalt is high again

Domestic metal cobalt price rises about 97% of the power battery industry profit space is squeezed.

Recently, a news about "the price of cobalt and high innovation" affects the nerve of the whole power battery industry.

According to statistics, the price of cobalt in China increased by about 97% in 2017.Meanwhile, as of the end of December 2017, the price of cobalt on the London Metal Exchange rose to $75205 a tonne, up more than 130 per cent from the start of the year.Cobalt, an important raw material for power batteries, has become the largest upstream metal.

The cobalt price rising

Why does cobalt have the ability to pull the whole body?

Currently, one of the main factors limiting the development of the new energy vehicle industry is the short battery life due to the lack of energy density of the battery.Cobalt is considered to be the key to resolving "range anxiety" because of its advantages in energy density compared to traditional positive materials.

In 2017, according to the China association of automobile manufacturers, China's new energy vehicle production and sales of 794000 and 777000, respectively, year-on-year growth of 53.8% and 53.3%, the personage inside course of study is expected to production scale is expected to more than 1 million vehicles in 2018.Predictably, the huge demand for cobalt from new energy vehicles in the future will provide medium - and long-term support for the rise in cobalt prices.

In the industry point of view, the rise in prices of raw materials will be compressed power battery enterprises from two aspects of living space, on the one hand, power battery energy density increasing, raised the threshold of the product into the market, to accelerate the enterprise between evolution;On the other hand, reducing the cost has become the trend, and the downward pressure is transmitted to the upstream, and the power battery gradually changes from the profiteering industry to the micro-profit industry.

Hunan shanshan energy technology co., LTD., vice President of the institute xin-xin tan, according to authors is the premise of quality assurance, "for the pursuit of lower prices lead to lower quality requirement, there are security hidden danger, only on the basis of continuously ensuring quality, through the industrial chain to reduce costs."Xin-xin tan believe that the prices of raw materials will be reversed transmission enterprises strengthen the breakthrough technology, only the basis of in-depth research, cutting-edge research, and combined with the downstream enterprise technology development is an important guarantee of enterprise development is in the lead.

Cobalt industry branch of China nonferrous metals industry association deputy secretary-general yong-gang sun analysis, cobalt basic within the expected this round of price increases, our country is poor, cobalt countries import dependence in more than 90%, from the situation now, cobalt price up to down.In addition, the supply and demand of cobalt is tight, and the suspension of many companies has made it difficult for the power battery industry to "cobalt".

overcapacity

In addition to the price of raw materials, the power battery industry is also facing the problem of overcapacity.According to the data, China's new energy vehicle power battery capacity reached 37.06GWH in 2017, higher than expected.In 2017, the annual capacity of the battery industry can reach 200 billion yuan, and the excess capacity of power battery reaches 157%.

Overcapacity brings about the improvement of the concentration degree of power battery industry, and the first-line enterprises in the industry gradually erode the market share through technological advantages.It is understood that the supporting amount of the five enterprises in 2017 is 22.343 billion WH, accounting for 60.5%, and the supporting amount of the top 20 enterprises is 320.9 billion WH, accounting for 87%.At the same time, two or three low-end production line enterprises facing elimination crisis, power battery industry development research office of the China automotive technology research center director Fang Kai is said that in terms of the number of form a complete set, compared with 2016 in 150, seriously reduce the number of companies in 2017, less than 1, 100.

The personage inside course of study thinks, the future of new energy vehicles and power battery industry, capacity to focus on a few large enterprises, for the other capacity of comparison for the spread of new energy vehicles and power battery enterprises, the future market competition will be more cruel.

Faced with the industrial crisis caused by overcapacity, power battery companies choose to proceed cautiously."We plan for the market, how many orders we have, and how much we plan to produce."Tafel new energy science and technology, chairman and President of dragon painted jin told reporters, "enterprises must be expanded steadily, not blindly to do big, do even a little less, a little bit more conservative, guaranteed to earn money is the premise."

"And upstream and downstream enterprises to carry out all kinds of resources integration, and with big enterprise restructuring, or into other, more segments, automobile enterprise need to adjust, power battery enterprises also need to adjust."Industry insiders further said that enterprises should actively change the way of development from capacity expansion to quality enhancement.

Superior bad discard

The gradual subsidence of subsidies for new energy vehicles has become an inevitable trend.

"In 2017, it can be described as' ups and downs' for China's power battery industry, which has broken the hotbed of policy by subsidizing the release of subsidies and new subsidies."Industry insiders say, "the dynamic battery industry enters the market transition period, the brutal situation of the industry competition starts to show."

For the power battery industry, the upstream is squeezed by the raw material price increase, and the downstream is subject to the price compression caused by the reduction of the subsidy of the whole vehicle enterprise, and how to transform it into a difficult problem.

When it comes to transformation, battery makers say they are "crossing the river by feeling the stones", and the core issue is how to make products."The impact of policy on the industry is significant, as battery manufacturers are under pressure," said Mr Long.I think the best way to resist competition is to do it well, to do well and to meet the needs of users.""From the battery companies themselves, the most important thing is to be honest," says CTO jin cheng, the company's CTO.

Next, to integrate the power battery industry in our country, the promotion level of development and development goals clearly, the ministry, the national development and reform commission, ministry of science and technology and the ministry of finance four ministries jointly issued by the action plan for promote the development of the auto power battery industry.New system according to the program planning, the following will focus on strengthening basic research power battery, vigorously promote the new type of lithium ion power battery research and development and industrialization, 2018 years ago to ensure high quality power battery supply, technology innovation and development of test in 2025.

Thus it can be seen that the current power battery industry is in the stage of transition from high growth to high quality growth.

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