Competitive Edge
China is emerging rapidly in the global lithium-ion secondary battery market to the point of beating Japanese manufacturers to take the lion’s share. Even Korean battery manufacturers, which are dominating the market, are mainly using Chinese products for the cheaper prices.
Korean companies are keeping an eye on Chinese players’ business expansion to the finished goods market based on their competitive edge in the materials segment. According to market research firm B3, China’s share in the small lithium-ion battery market increased from 13.5 percent to 21.1 percent on a sell-through basis between 2010 and last year. In addition, the Yano Research Institute recently reported that China accounted for 55.2 percent of the global anode material market, 70 percent of cathode material, 67 percent of electrolytes, and 37.6 percent of separation membrane on a quantity basis last year to top all the four competitors.
In contrast, Korea and Japan are failing to increase their market shares. Korea took up 16.3 percent of the separation membrane market and 10.6 percent of electrolytes, but less than 10 percent in the other two.
“These days, global lithium-ion battery cell manufacturers are increasing the use of Chinese materials for cost reduction, and the Chinese companies are consistently increasing their shipment on the back of the growth of the Chinese IT and electric vehicle markets,” the Yano Research Institute explained, adding, “Korean lithium-ion cell manufacturers, which are their main clients, are procuring more materials from China, while Japanese players are showing signs of recovery in the electrolyte segment to take the market share from Korean companies.” It continued, “Chinese companies recently set up a joint venture with SK Innovation and took over A123, an American EV battery maker, in order to beef up their battery manufacturing capabilities.”
In the meantime, it has been found that the global lithium-ion battery material market is continuing to grow. Last year, the market covering the four materials expanded 10.6 percent from a year earlier to reach US$5.85529 billion.