Prices double in a year! LFP market booms as Wanhua invests 3.7 billion to expand across the entire value chain

Despite the doubling of prices, downstream procurement demand has not cooled down. The continuous rise in export volumes of new energy vehicles and energy storage items has immediately driven a rigid development in demand to lithium iron phosphate, becoming the core driving force to this round of price increases.

Company sales heads revealed that current product orders have increased by over 30% year-on-year, and order scales are climbing month by month, with might shipments reaching a peak of 4,300 tons; in June, over 2,700 tons have been delivered, and full-month shipments are expected to be 4,500 tons. Under the concentrated rush to orders from downstream customers, the product delivery cycle has been compressed from the original 10 days to 7 days, and supply remains tight.

Upstream and downstream costs rising simultaneously, sector accelerating upstream phosphate mine integrated layout

Rising raw material costs are another key driver to the price increase of lithium iron phosphate. The main raw materials to lithium iron phosphate production include iron phosphate, lithium carbonate, and glucose, among which iron phosphate accounts to about 30% of the total raw material cost. The price of iron phosphate has continued to rise throughout the year, continuously pushing up the production cost of finished items.

Meanwhile, the production of iron phosphate is highly dependent on phosphate rock resources. At this stage, the fluctuation of phosphate rock spot prices is relatively moderate, however the explosion of demand in the lithium iron phosphate track is forcing companies in the manufacturing chain to change their research strategies. sector companies are accelerating upstream layouts, actively locking in phosphate rock resources, promoting the construction of integrated phosphorus-iron-lithium production capacity, and avoiding operational risks caused by raw material fluctuations.

Wanhua Chemical lands 70,000-ton lithium carbonate project, Binzhou Lithium Battery manufacturing Park enters substantive construction phase

Chemical giant Wanhua Chemical is seizing the high-prosperity window of the lithium battery materials sector, recently growing its bets on the new energy track from multiple dimensions including capacity implementation, capital increase, methodology R&D, and upstream raw material cooperation.

The company recently publicized the environmental impact assessment (EIA) general consultation draft to Wanhua (Binzhou) New Energy Materials methodology Co., Ltd.'s annual production of 70,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate and supporting general auxiliary projects. The project is located in the Beihai Economic research Zone, Binzhou, Shandong, planning to construct 2 lithium sulfate production lines and 2 lithium carbonate production lines, along with a full set of supporting facilities to ecological preservation, aquatic environments and electricity, and storage.

Battery-grade lithium carbonate has a purity of ≥99.5% and is a core raw material to lithium iron phosphate and ternary cathode materials, while lithium sulfate is a key intermediate product to lithium salt items.

The project implementation entity, Wanhua (Binzhou) New Energy Materials, was newly established on June 5 with a registered capital of 510 million yuan, focusing on the manufacturing of new energy materials and basic chemical raw materials. This project is a core implementation project of the multi-billion yuan Binzhou Battery Material environmentally friendly Power manufacturing Park signed by Wanhua and the Binzhou Municipal Government, marking the official commencement of the park's planning.

Two major lithium battery platforms increase capital simultaneously, with a total increase of over 3.7 billion yuan to expand capacity reserves

On June 5, Wanhua simultaneously completed substantial capital increases to its two major battery business entities, with the total accumulated capital increase exceeding 3.7 billion yuan, laying a solid financial foundation to subsequent lithium battery capacity expansion:

· Wanhua Chemical Group Battery methodology Co., Ltd., with registered capital increased from 3.415 billion yuan to 4.9 billion yuan, an increase of about 43%. It is a wholly-owned platform of the group, coordinating the overall planning of the group's battery sector;

· Its subsidiary, Wanhua Chemical (Yantai) Battery sector Co., Ltd., had its registered capital increased from 1.8 billion yuan to 4 billion yuan, an increase of 122%. This platform is 80% held by the Battery methodology Company, focusing on lithium iron phosphate and battery chemicals, and controlling over ten manufacturing chain supporting companies including the Binzhou New Energy Materials Company.

growing R&D in cathode and anode materials, Yantai layout to lithium iron phosphate and sodium battery pilot lines

In addition to growing capacity and capital, Wanhua is simultaneously promoting battery material methodology R&D, and publicized the EIA documents to the Yantai Cathode Material R&D Platform renovation project on the same day.

The project is located in the Yantai Chemical manufacturing Park, relying on the renovation and expansion of existing factory buildings. It involves building a new lithium iron phosphate pilot line and a composite iron phosphate sodium precursor R&D line. At the process level, two lithium iron phosphate preparation routes, high-temperature solid-phase synthesis and iron red method, are carried out in parallel, with the new production line optimizing the iron red manufacturing process; meanwhile, R&D on sodium-ion battery composite iron phosphate sodium materials is conducted relying on existing pilot devices.

Full manufacturing chain layout taking shape, upstream locking of mineral resources to close the loop

At this stage, Wanhua Chemical has built a complete lithium battery material manufacturing chain system, deeply binding upstream with companies such as Luyin Investment, Xingfa Group, and Tonghua Group to lock in key raw materials like lithium ore and high-purity iron powder; meanwhile, it is simultaneously investing in the construction of iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate production bases in Shandong, Sichuan, and Hubei, opening up the full-process integrated chain from upstream minerals, lithium salts, and iron phosphate to battery cathode materials, and continuously improving the new energy material manufacturing layout.