At present, lithium copper foil products in short supply, copper foil prices continued to rise. Since May this year, the copper foil market has enjoyed a surge in prices, with the average price of copper foil rising by about 22% from the beginning of the year, with the price of electronic copper foil rising even more aggressively, up 60% since its low in 2020, according to Xinen. Copper foil prices have continued to rise momentum, copper foil industry prospects? It is learned that copper foil is mainly divided into lithium copper foil and electronic copper foil, lithium copper foil is generally 6 ~ 20um thick double-light copper foil, mainly used in power, consumer, energy storage and other areas of lithium battery production; electronic copper foil is mainly used in the electronic information industry, such as Printed Circuit Board (PCB) .

1, Copper Foil Industry Development Status Analysis 

1, Lithium Battery Copper Foil Market Rapid Growth

With the rapid development of lithium battery especially power battery in China, the lithium battery copper foil industry is developing rapidly in China. In 2019, China shipped 93,000 tons of copper foil for lithium batteries, up 8.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Institute of High Industry Research (GGII) . In the next few years, after the new energy automobile industry is driven by the national policy and the industry adjustment, the market is expected to enter the rapid development stage again, the power battery will drive the Chinese lithium battery copper foil market to maintain the rapid growth trend. 2021 is expected to ship 144,000 tons of lithium ion battery copper foil in China.

In 2019, China's copper foil capacity for Lithium batteries was 199,000 tons, or 138,000 tons, or 69.5 percent, according to the Capacity utilization. Lithium battery copper foil industry is expected to maintain a steady growth in production and sales, benefiting from the growth in demand for new energy vehicles and capacity expansion. 2. The expansion of the printed circuit board (PCB) market has benefited from the steady growth of China's PCB industry. The output of China's PCB copper foil has been growing steadily, and the annual growth rate is faster than the global growth rate. According to GGII, Chinese PCB copper foil production was 292,000 tons in 2019, up 5.8 percent year-on-year. With the growth of demand for PCB copper foil in China's PCB industry and the gradual penetration of PCB copper foil into the high-end product market, adding the gradual release of new PCB copper foil production capacity in China in recent years, GGII predicts that, in the next few years, the output of PCB copper foil in China will continue to grow steadily. China's PCB copper foil production will reach 326,000 tons by 2021.

3. The supply and demand of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) market is stable. According to CCFA data, the total domestic production capacity of PCB copper foil reached 335,000 tons in 2019, compared with 292,000 tons in 2019, or 87.2% of the total output Capacity utilization, from this point of view, China's current PCB copper foil supply and demand relationship remains stable, some of the product supply is relatively tight. The 2021 expects domestic production of 415,000 tons of PCB copper foil, compared with 326,000 tons that year, or 80.2 percent of Capacity utilization's total output.

2.The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (Miit) has listed extremely thin copper foil as an advanced Non-ferrous metal material in the catalogue of demonstration and guidance for the first batch application of key new materials (2019 edition) , ultra-thin high-performance electrolytic copper foil for lithium battery is listed as a new energy material, that is, electronic copper foil is the national key development strategic direction. From the downstream application field of electronic copper foil, electronic information industry and new energy automobile industry are the key strategic, basic and leading pillar industries in China. The support of national policy will provide a broad space for the development of electronic copper foil industry, and help the overall transformation and upgrading of copper foil manufacturing industry.

2, electronic copper foil downstream industry development diversification, rapid growth of new growth points, electronic copper foil downstream application market is broader, including computers, communications, consumer electronics and new energy and other fields. In recent years, with the progress of integrated circuit technology, the development of electronic industry and the support of national policy, electronic copper foil has been widely used in the emerging industries such as 5G communication, Industry 4.0, intelligent manufacturing and new energy automobile, the diversification of downstream application field provides a broader platform and guarantee for the development and application of copper foil products. 3. The construction of new infrastructure to promote industrial upgrading and the development of high frequency and high speed electronic copper foil to develop a new generation of information networks and expand 5G applications, the construction of Data Center represents the key development direction of promoting industrial upgrading in China. The construction of 5G Base Station and data center is the infrastructure of high-speed network communication, which is of great strategic significance for building a new driving force of development in the digital economy era, guiding a new round of scientific and technological industrial revolution and Building International Competitive Advantages. China has been one of the leaders in 5G industry since 2013, when China began to launch 5G related policies and achieved remarkable results. In 2020, China will have 718,0005g base stations and one hundred billion 5G investment, according to miit. By May, China had built about 850,0005G base stations. According to the four major operators base station deployment planning, GGII is expected to 20235g macro base station to add about 1.1 million.

The construction of 5G base STATION/IDC needs the support of high frequency and high speed PCB technology. High-frequency and high-speed electronic copper foil, as one of the key materials of high-frequency and high-speed PCB substrate, has become the development direction of the industry. High-tech enterprises with low roughness RTF copper foil and HVLP copper foil production process will benefit from the industrial upgrading trend to get faster development. China's industrial policy supports the development of the new energy vehicle industry: the State has clearly extended the subsidy to the end of 2022, and promulgates "on the new energy automobile exempts the vehicle purchase tax related policy announcement" the policy, reduces the burden to the enterprise. In addition, more importantly, in 2020, the state issued the development plan for the new energy automobile industry (2021-2035) , with a clear goal that by 2025, the market share of new energy automobiles will reach about 20 percent, it is conducive to the growth of the new energy vehicle market in the next few years. China sold 1.367 million new energy vehicles in 2020, up 10.9 percent year-on-year. Sales of new energy vehicles are picking up as the domestic epidemic situation is under control. Sales of 950,000 new energy vehicles in 2021, up 2.2 times from a year earlier. The association expects sales of New Energy passenger cars to rise to 2.4 million units this year. In the long run, the rapid development of the new energy vehicle market will lead the lithium battery copper foil market in China to maintain a high growth trend.

Source: China Commercial Industry Research Institute