According to research data from the GGII Institute of Lithium Battery Industry, China's lithium-ion battery shipments in the first half of 2024 were 459GWh, a year-on-year increase of 21%.

In terms of specific areas, China's power/storage/digital lithium-ion battery shipments in the first half of 2024 were 320/116/23GWh, respectively.

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, sales of new energy vehicles in the first half of 2024 reached 4.944 million vehicles. From the perspective of segmented markets, domestic demand has gradually increased in the months of April, May and June driven by the policy of replacing old cars with new ones, while overseas sales have declined month by month due to geopolitical factors. In terms of product structure, PHEV accounted for the highest proportion in January, accounting for 44% of passenger vehicles, but has gradually declined since then, falling to 36% in June, mainly due to the transmission of the decline in lithium-ion battery prices to automakers. The cost-effectiveness of EV models has improved more than that of PHEV models.

In the energy storage sector, electricity storage, household energy storage, and commercial energy storage have all shown a year-on-year growth trend, with electricity storage growing at 43% and its market share rising to 89%.

In the digital sector, the Q2 digital market began to recover, with orders for digital lithium-ion batteries increasing by over 20% compared to Q1. From a segmentation perspective, lithium-ion batteries for 3C electronics were driven by the recovery of end consumers of mobile phones and laptops, while lithium-ion batteries for power tools were driven by low downstream inventory, as customers stockpiled batteries and increased battery shipments.

In the second half of the year, it is predicted that the total lithium-ion battery shipments in 2024 are expected to exceed 1050GWh. The demand for the power/storage market will be strong in the second half of the year. Among them, the overseas sales of new energy vehicles may stop falling, and the proportion of PHEV will increase. The main increment of energy storage lithium-ion batteries is in electricity storage; lithium-ion batteries for 3C electronics will continue to rise due to the recovery of end consumers, while customer stockpiling of lithium-ion batteries for power tools is expected to continue until Q3, and lithium-ion battery demand will decline in Q4.

The growth rate of the four major cathode materials exceeded 20%, with lithium iron phosphate materials leading the growth of the entire cathode materials industry.

According to research data from GGII, China's cathode material shipments in the first half of 2024 were 1.34 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 23%. Among them, lithium iron phosphate material shipments were 0.93 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 32%, accounting for nearly 70% of the total cathode material shipments. In addition, ternary materials shipped 0.3 million tons, cobalt acid lithium materials shipped 0.045 million tons, and lithium manganate materials shipped 0.059 million tons.

China's separator material shipments in the first half of 2024 were 9.1 billion square meters, a year-on-year increase of 26%. Among them, dry-process separators shipped 2 billion square meters, and wet-process separators shipped 7.1 billion square meters.

China's anode material shipments in the first half of 2024 were 0.94 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 29%. Among them, shipments of artificial graphite and natural graphite were 0.8 million tons and 0.14 million tons, respectively.

China's electrolyte material shipments in the first half of 2024 were 0.6 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 26%.

In terms of price, except for separators, major materials such as cathodes, anodes, copper foils, and electrolytes in the first half of 2024 were all close to the cost line. According to statistics from GGII at the end of June on bidding for the second half of the year by mainstream battery factories, it is expected that negative electrodes, copper foils, and structural parts will lead the rise by more than 10%, and the prices of lithium carbonate and separators will fall by more than 10%.