Recently the price of LiPF6 has experienced rapid growth, breaking through RMB 300,000/MT in June 2021, RMB 400,000/MT in July, and RMB 450,000/MT in August.
As of November 10th, 2021, China’s mainstream transaction price range for LiPF6 was RMB 500,000-580,000/MT. Compared with the beginning of the year, prices soared 404.67%. Although price quotes are high, there are very few transactions at those high prices. At present, the actual transaction price is basically stable. The LiPF6 market is still in a state of short supply, and many manufacturers who quoted high prices do not have goods.
The impact of the “Dual Control” policy has decreased, and new production capacity of enterprises such as Tinci has been released. The overall supply of LiPF6 has increased, and the enterprises are basically operating at full capacity. The industry utilization rate is about 90%. In terms of the industry’s current expansion process, the main capacity release will basically be concentrated in 2023. Therefore, the tight supply of LiPF6 may continue until 2022.
According to forecasts, the global demand for Li-ion batteries will reach about 1,200 GWh by 2025, corresponding to a demand for electrolyte of about 1.32 million MT—a CAGR of 35% during this period. Based on a ratio of 0.12 MT LiPF6 per 1 MT of electrolyte, the global demand for LiPF6 is expected to be about 165 KMT in 2025. From a domestic perspective, overall electrolyte shipments are expected to reach 865 KMT by 2025—a CAGR of 31.7%. This would bring the overall market size to about RMB 20 billion.
Source: Fluorochemicals Industry News