In-depth analysis of the current situation and development trend of China's lithium hydroxide industry (2024-2031)

1. Lithium hydroxide is widely used
Lithium hydroxide is the 1 kind of inorganic compounds, white crystalline powder, soluble in water, slightly soluble in ethanol, with strong alkaline. According to different quality requirements, it can be divided into lithium hydroxide monohydrate, anhydrous lithium hydroxide and micropowder grade lithium hydroxide.
According to the "Research Report on the Current Situation and Development Trend of China's Lithium Hydroxide Industry (2024-2031)" published by Guan Yan Report Network, lithium hydroxide is widely used, not only for preparing lithium salt, lithium soap, lithium battery cathode material and lithium-based grease, but also for electrolyte of alkaline storage battery, lithium bromide refrigerator absorption liquid, analytical reagent, photographic developer, etc, it is widely used in new energy vehicles, chemical raw materials, chemical reagents, battery industry, metallurgy, glass, ceramics and other industries.
        2. China's lithium hydroxide production capacity ranks first in the world
In recent years, the downstream development of lithium hydroxide in China is good, especially the rapid development of new energy vehicles, which promotes the active expansion of lithium hydroxide production enterprises, and then drives the continuous growth of lithium hydroxide production capacity. Data show that China's lithium hydroxide production capacity has increased from 144000 tons in 2019 to 700000 tons in 2023. At present, China's lithium hydroxide production capacity ranks first in the world, accounting for about 84% in 2022, and is the world's largest producer of lithium hydroxide. From the perspective of regional distribution, China's lithium hydroxide production capacity is mainly concentrated in Jiangxi Province and Sichuan Province, and its total production capacity will reach 90% in 2022. This is mainly because Jiangxi Province and Sichuan Province are rich in ore lithium resources, which is convenient to provide raw materials for lithium hydroxide production.
         3. China's lithium hydroxide production and apparent demand continued to grow
With the continuous release of downstream demand for lithium hydroxide, the production and apparent demand of lithium hydroxide in China have been increasing in recent years. The data shows that my country's lithium hydroxide production has increased from 50200 tons in 2018 to 319600 tons in 2023, and the year-on-year growth has always remained above 20%; the apparent demand has increased from 16900 tons in 2017 to 156000 tons in 2022. The year-on-year growth has always remained above 15%.
         4. Lithium hydroxide export scale continues to expand
As China is the world's largest producer of lithium hydroxide, its export scale is much larger than the import scale. Data show that from 2018 to 2023, China's export volume of lithium hydroxide continued to expand, reaching 130000 tons in 2023, an increase of 39.19 percent over the same period last year; in terms of export volume, except for a decline in 2020, the rest of the year maintained positive growth, reaching 43.586 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 65.46 percent over the same period last year. In terms of imports, China's lithium hydroxide does not rely on imports, and its imports are always below 4000 tons, and show a fluctuating trend. In 2023, China's import volume of lithium hydroxide was only 3800 tons, with an import volume of 1.288 billion yuan.
         5. High concentration of lithium hydroxide industry in China
Due to the high technical, financial and customer barriers in the lithium hydroxide industry, the number of lithium hydroxide production enterprises is small and the industry concentration is high. Data show that in recent years, China's lithium hydroxide industry CR5 has remained above 77%, reaching 80% in 2022.