Li-ion Battery Separator Industry 2022 Market Review and 2023 Development Prospects Analysis

I. 2022 lithium battery separator industry development status review

1. Lithium battery separator shipments

The rapid development of global new energy vehicles and the expansion of the scale of the lithium battery industry has brought a broad market space for the lithium battery diaphragm industry. Meanwhile, the rapid growth of the energy storage market has further promoted the development of the lithium battery diaphragm industry. In recent years, the global supply capacity of Chinese diaphragm enterprises has been increasing, and the shipments of lithium battery diaphragms have grown significantly. Data show that in 2022, China's lithium diaphragm shipments reached 12.4 billion square meters, up 59% year-on-year. China Business Industry Research Institute predicts that the shipments of lithium diaphragm in 2023 will be about 12.6 billion square meters.

Data source: GGII, China Business Industry Research Institute

2. Shipment structure accounted for

According to the different production processes, diaphragm can be divided into dry process and wet process, where the dry process can be divided into dry one-way stretch and dry two-way stretch. As the downstream power, digital lithium batteries require high energy density, and wet diaphragm thickness is thinner, to improve the energy density of lithium batteries have advantages, so China's lithium diaphragm market shipments are still dominated by wet diaphragm, the market share of up to 75% in 2022.

Data source: GGII, China Business Industry Research Institute

3. Regional capacity distribution

From the regional distribution of China's diaphragm production capacity, the existing capacity of lithium diaphragm is mainly concentrated in East China, followed by Central China, North China and South China. Among them, East China occupies nearly half of the existing production capacity of China's diaphragm, mainly from Jiangsu Province, whose existing capacity accounts for nearly 60% of East China's production capacity. Existing diaphragm production capacity in Central China is mainly concentrated in Hubei and Hunan provinces, with a combined capacity of more than 2 billion square meters. Existing production capacity in North China is mainly distributed in Shanxi Province and Hebei Province.

Data source: GGII, China Business Industry Research Institute

4. Lithium battery diaphragm patent application

In recent years, the annual number of patent applications for lithium battery separators in China is more than 230. Data show that in 2022, the number of patent applications related to lithium battery diaphragm in China was 284, an increase of 21.4%.

Data source: BaiTeng.com, China Business Industry Research Institute

5. Market competition pattern

In terms of market concentration, in 2022, the market share of TOP3 enterprises in China lithium battery separator is 64%, and the market share of TOP6 enterprises is 85%, with a high market concentration.

Data source: GGII, China Business Industry Research Institute

From the perspective of enterprise market share, Shanghai Enjie ranked first with a market share of nearly 40%, followed by Star Source Materials, the combined market share of the two companies diaphragm companies exceeds 50%.

Source: EVTank, China Business Industry Research Institute

6. Key enterprises investment in production expansion

Since 2022, new projects of lithium battery diaphragm have landed one after another, with a total investment of about 63.3 billion yuan in 15 lithium battery diaphragm projects, including Enjie, Sinoma Technology, CSCH, Henchuan Technology, Yingbo Cuisine and Jinli.

Source: Compiled by China Business Industry Research Institute

Second, 2023 lithium battery separator industry development prospects

1. Policy favorable industry development

Lithium-ion battery diaphragm as one of the key materials for lithium-ion batteries, and the lithium battery industry has formed a synchronous innovation and mutual promotion of the development path. In recent years, the national support for the lithium-ion battery industry chain has been increasing, and a series of relevant policies have been introduced to promote the development of the industry, such as "Guidance on Promoting the Development of Energy Electronics Industry (Draft for Comments)" "Notice of the Two Departments on the Collaborative and Stable Development of the Lithium-ion Battery Industry Chain Supply Chain" "Science and Technology to Support the Implementation Plan for Carbon Dumping and Carbon Neutral (2022-2030)". The specific policies are as follows:

Source: Compiled by China Business Industry Research Institute

2. Increased industry concentration and significant domestic advantages

As a typical asset-intensive industry, the scale effect of the diaphragm industry is prominent. Enterprises with large scale, strong financial strength and mature technology will continue to reduce costs and increase their market share by expanding their production capacity. Therefore, the market concentration of the diaphragm industry will further increase. Diaphragm industry leading enterprises such as Enjie shares, Xinyuan material, Putai Lai have expanded production capacity, in the diaphragm technology, production and customer three barriers, the head of the enterprise in technology, financing, expansion and other aspects have the advantage, the future market share is expected to continue to improve.

3. Downstream demand to drive the development of lithium battery diaphragm industry

With the continuous progress of electronic information technology, lithium battery diaphragm downstream lithium batteries are mainly used in 3C and new energy vehicles, benefiting from the rapid development of new energy vehicles, power lithium batteries are in a high-speed growth period, the market demand for power lithium battery diaphragm to rapidly increase. Strong growth in the downstream market demand for lithium battery industry has played a significant role in promoting the development of lithium battery industry, with the gradual reduction in the price of lithium batteries and China's guidance of the new energy industry, the overall industry chain of lithium batteries ushered in the opportunity for rapid development, driving the development of the upstream lithium battery diaphragm industry.

4. Diaphragm technology to promote the localization process of lithium battery diaphragm industry

Most of the high-end lithium battery diaphragm relies on imports, but the high price of imported lithium battery diaphragm and long delivery cycle, it is difficult to meet domestic demand. Therefore, as China's lithium battery diaphragm product quality continues to improve, its products have price advantages and perfect sales system can effectively promote the localization process of lithium battery diaphragm industry, and gradually replace imported products to promote the localization process of lithium battery diaphragm industry.