CATL Denies Large Input of Natural Graphite

A recent report said that “a brokerage firm’s battery and new energy research team finds that a leading company in the lithium battery industry is massively promoting natural graphite, with thousands of tons used in October.” In response to the report, a person in charge of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) replied on Tuesday, “the report claims that it is CATL, but it has been confirmed internally as false news.”

Earlier, some financial institution reported that CATL has used natural graphite on a large scale, consumed thousands of tons in October, and will consume more than 2,000 tons in November. Its proportion in the negative electrode will exceed 10%.

This financial institution thinks that graphite is used as the negative electrode material of power batteries, and its importance is self-evident. An analyst thinks that as China has forced power rationing, graphitization now costs much higher than before, and a a result, the price of artificial graphite has risen sharply. In this case, natural graphite comes to the fore, as it generally does not require graphitization, consumes less energy, and is over 10,000 yuan ($1,567) cheaper for the same capacity. And as the graphitization is continuously priced up, the price gap keeps widening.

Along with the progress of the modification process in the past few years, through continuous transformation, natural graphite is close to artificial graphite in performance. However, artificial graphite has high energy density, but it is poor in fast charging. As the battery factory technology progresses and electrolyte formulation improves, the service life is significantly enhanced.

For the above reasons, this financial institution believes that with the introduction of natural graphite, it is estimated that the market share of artificial graphite in negative electrode will drop from over 80% to about 70%, and that of natural graphite will increase to 30%. This will further control the cost. It is expected that the natural graphite will rapidly obtain more market space.

It is worth mentioning that on October 22, Sealand Securities received a warning letter from Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau for predicting what CATL will be in 2060.

SEE ALSO: CATL Acquires Canadian Lithium Company Millennium for C$377 Million

In fact, even earlier, some brokerage research reports were refuted by listed companies, and even caught up in disputes.

In August, an analyst from China Securities shared the semi-annual report review and research report of GreatStar Industrial in his WeChat moments. In response to the post, the board secretary commented “the performance forecast is too radical for the company to make it.”

To address such issues, authorities have constantly strengthened supervision. Recently, Shanghai Securities Regulatory Bureau also issued the Notice on Regulating Securities Practitioners to Use We Media for Business Activities, and put forward three measures for brokerage management practitioners to use We Media for business.