Lead acid batteries "winter" is difficult, lithium batteries become a trend

The downturn in global commodity markets, combined with a clampdown on environmental policies and a drop in market demand, has led to a decline in lead batteries, the big brother of the battery industry. When lead batteries continued to be weak, the relevant state departments issued a decision to impose a consumption tax of 4 % on lead batteries from January 1, 2016. Let the industry not from the first call: "winter" is still the same, difficulties come again, the Levy of consumption tax to make the development of lead batteries more difficult.

One side is cold and one side is warm. The new energy market has developed well, providing an opportunity for the battery industry to transition to high-end power batteries. However, if it is vigorously developed, will it repeat the phenomenon of excess capacity of lead batteries again? In this regard, the reporter conducted a related investigation.

"Severe winter" continues battery industry depth "anemia"

In Zhengzhou battery market, the cold weather to the original cold market more cold as "ice cave." Seven or eight years ago, relying on the lead battery agent and Luojiening looked at this year's books when he said that the battery market in recent years has been not good.

The reporter visits the battery retail market to discover, although Henan is the electric vehicle sale big province, but the price and the market price of lead battery is difficult to "shoulder". Luojiening said that the source of the price war will be back to the National Environmental Protection special activities in 2011. At that time, the lead battery companies were inspected, more than 500 were closed nationwide, and more than 400 were discontinued and repaired, resulting in a battery shortage for a period of time. As a result of this stimulus, some large companies have rapidly expanded their production capacity through mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing, etc., resulting in excess capacity and oversupply. Therefore, in order to sell inventory batteries, price war has become a means of promotion.

In the battery market, the reporter saw that the lead battery price of the main sales dropped a lot, compared with the historical high, a drop of nearly 200 yuan. A representative of Chaowei Battery stated that a group of 48V12A lead batteries sold for 240 yuan and 48V20A lead batteries sold for 440 yuan. Although it was informed that the price increase on the 9th of this month was 280 yuan and 480 yuan respectively, compared with the previous prices of 430 yuan and 600 yuan, It's hard to believe.

It is understood that Teneng and Chaowei Group are the two leading companies in the industry. They account for 80 % of the National battery market share. So far, they have lost 300 million yuan and 28 million yuan, respectively, accounting for 31.75 % of the total industry losses.

Xuguanhui, sales manager of Anyang Mobile Battery Co., Ltd., said that short-term price wars can directly benefit consumers, but in the long run, prices gradually approach costs and companies will have no profit.

Is the consumption tax the last straw to crush the company?

The "winter" is still the same, and the difficulties have come. The 4 % consumption tax on batteries that many industry insiders are worried about will be levied on January 1, 2016. This has made the development of the lead battery industry, which was already in a "severe winter", even more difficult. According to Xuguanhui, the lead battery industry has a small profit in addition to a small number of companies, and the slight profit is only 1 % -3 %. Most of them are still in a general loss situation. The consumption tax is levied on batteries that were originally struggling. For companies, it is undoubtedly an impact.

It is reported that there are about 200 lead battery manufacturers with a national output value of more than 5 million yuan, and micro-profit enterprises account for 32 % of the industry, and their profit margins are 1 % -2.5 %; There are 136 loss-making enterprises, accounting for 68 % of the entire industry, with a total loss of 1.05 billion yuan.

In the words of Luojiening, the current weak market itself is the buyer's decision. Customers have tried their best to "cut prices" and manufacturers and distributors have retreated to a position where they can not retreat. Therefore, at present, it is difficult to pass on the excise tax to consumers, and ultimately it is still enterprises and distributors to bear.

Therefore, some industry insiders estimate that once the consumption tax is imposed, it will reduce its original advantages, produce a "butterfly effect", promote industry competition, accelerate the industry reshuffle, and become the last straw in the lead-battery industry.

New opportunities for transformation or the next "cycle" of overcapacity

"Lead storage is low profit and lithium batteries are the trend" has become a consensus in the battery industry. Tian Neng, superpower as the battery industry's "big brother", its every move is affecting the entire industry's "nerve." At the same time as the price war in the lead battery field, the two companies have also launched a new round of competition in the lithium battery field.

It is reported that Teneng Group issued an announcement that it plans to split the lithium battery project. Recently, the chairman of the board of directors of the company, Zhangtianren, said that the group is focusing on the development of its lithium-powered battery business, and will add four production lines in the future.

In the lead battery field and Tianneng's super power is not weak, but also on the new energy lithium battery layout, Chaowei Group currently has three phases of lithium ion battery construction. At the same time, the company accelerated the innovative research and development of core technologies, and last year established Henan Chaowei Zhengyi Power Co., Ltd., which specializes in the development and production of automotive starter batteries.

In addition, with the emergence of new energy vehicles, its battery sector has become a new battlefield for capital markets. According to incomplete statistics, as of September this year, 21 listed companies, including Shanshan shares, Shuguang shares, and BYD, spent about 60 billion yuan to deploy the lithium battery market.

Some industry insiders say bluntly that new energy vehicles and other technology products have not yet been popularized on a large scale, but its related lithium battery industry has been booming, and the worry of overcapacity has emerged.

"Eat dry squeeze" to improve resource utilization rate as a way out

The opportunity exists and the problem follows. Battery as a renewable resource, its recycling and reuse has always been an indispensable part of the circulation link, and, coupled with the promotion of new energy batteries, the battery industry will face large-scale recycling in the future.

According to relevant statistics, the total scrap volume of automotive power batteries in 2015 was about 20,000 to 40,000 tons. By around 2020, the total scrap volume of automotive power batteries in China will reach a scale of 120,000 to 170,000 tons. Therefore, the recycling and reuse of batteries has become a problem that can not be ignored.

Battery recovery and reuse is not a simple process. Zhaozhibo, manager of the business operations Department of Zhonglian Renewable Resources Co., Ltd. in Henan Province, said that some special materials are extracted again through complex procedures, but compared with the production of raw lead. Can greatly save energy. For the battery industry, the future is to develop in the direction of environmental protection and green, and enterprises actively establish a reasonable recovery mechanism to improve the effective use of resources, can greatly reduce the production costs of enterprises and improve the profitability of enterprises.

The page contains the contents of the machine translation.