Electrical Equipment / Components & Telecoms

Since 2022, many countries have been short of energy, electricity prices have soared, and the market demand for energy storage products has increased significantly. China's lithium ion battery exports have witnessed explosive growth in the above context. Recently, customs data showed that the export volume of China's lithium-ion batteries in 2022 was nearly 342.66 billion yuan, an increase of 86.7% over 2021 and a new record high.

The achievements are not limited to this. Looking back over the past six years, according to customs data, China's lithium ion battery exports continued to rise - from 2017 to 2020, China's lithium ion battery exports grew steadily at a rate of 20% to 35% per year, and customs data showed that in 2021 and 2022, China's lithium ion battery exports also saw a rapid growth of 66.5% and 86.7%, respectively.

The head of Funeng Technology (Ganzhou) Co., Ltd. said that the export of lithium ion power battery products of the company increased by more than 100% year on year in 2022. According to customs data, it was mainly exported to Europe and North America.

"At present, China has become the largest producer of lithium-ion battery materials in the world, with the output of positive pole, negative pole, electrolyte and diaphragm accounting for nearly or more than 70% of the world. With the rapid growth of the production and sales of new energy vehicles in China and the world, the export scale of China's lithium-ion battery and materials will continue to grow steadily." Liu Yanlong, former secretary general of China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, told the International Business News.

It is worth mentioning that the structure of China's lithium ion battery export products is changing. Liu Yanlong said that the overseas market of lithium-ion batteries in 2016 was dominated by consumer products. In addition to traditional consumer products, the power and energy storage markets in the overseas market of lithium-ion batteries also developed rapidly in 2021.

In the view of industry insiders, the policy boost is one of the important reasons behind the continuous development of lithium ion battery products in overseas markets in recent years. Since 2021, there have been good policies in the field of electrochemical energy storage. The Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Development of New Energy Storage and the Implementation Plan for the Development of New Energy Storage in the "Fourteenth Five-Year Plan" have been issued in succession, promoting the continuous development and expansion of the lithium-ion battery industry.

In addition, rich R&D experience is also the key to win the domestic lithium-ion battery "going to sea". "Since the 1990s, we have been deeply involved in the research and development and industrialization of lithium-ion power batteries, and have rich experience in research and development. At the same time, we have set up research and development, marketing and other branches in the United States and Germany, and have maintained long-term cooperation with large multinational enterprises, well-known universities, laboratories, etc." said the head of Funeng Technology.

In the process of "going to sea", lithium-ion battery enterprises are also facing considerable challenges and pressures.

"In recent years, the United States has introduced exclusionary laws and policies for China's lithium-ion battery industry, and set more trade barriers. The supply of a variety of raw materials for the lithium-ion battery industry depends on overseas, and these supply relationships are easily interfered by the long-arm jurisdiction policies of the United States. At the same time, Europe also hopes to get rid of its dependence on lithium-ion batteries and their raw materials in China, Japan and South Korea. A series of policies successively issued by the European Union are for foreign battery companies Industry, especially for Chinese battery enterprises, has set higher green trade barriers, which will have a negative impact on China's battery product exports in the future. " Liu Yanlong said.

In this regard, Liu Yanlong hopes that the national level can negotiate and coordinate to provide import and export tax incentives for the overseas development of Chinese-funded battery enterprises, and provide customs clearance convenience for the cross-border flow of relevant technology and management personnel.

In addition, during the transportation process, lithium-ion batteries are classified as Class 9 dangerous goods, and the railway can not undertake the transportation, which to some extent affects the enterprise's rapid delivery ability to key customers in emergency. According to customs data, in 2022, some ports will no longer undertake the export transportation business of lithium-ion batteries because they do not meet the storage requirements of dangerous goods, and enterprises have to seek the distance from the near, resulting in extended delivery cycle, reduced efficiency, increased operating costs and damaged competitiveness.

"We hope to solve the problem that the railway cannot transport lithium-ion batteries as soon as possible, so that the lithium-ion batteries exported from China can be exported to Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and other places through the China-EU train." Liu Yanlong further appealed.

Speaking of the future development plan, the head of Funeng Technology said that Funeng Technology has planned a capacity of more than 150GWh in Ganzhou, Zhenjiang, Wuhu, Kunming, Guangzhou and Europe. In the future, Funeng Technology will increase its research and development efforts, continuously launch new products in the fields of energy storage, transportation electrification, etc., actively develop new overseas customers, and improve the overseas marketing service system.

"We hope that the relevant departments can further improve the export tax rebate policy, reduce the burden on enterprises, and support enterprises with markets and orders to effectively perform the contract. At the same time, in view of the product properties of lithium-ion power batteries, we hope that the relevant departments can support enterprises to build high-quality overseas warehouses." said the above person in charge.