Benefiting from the growth in lithium-ion battery production, the cobalt chloride industry is booming

Cobalt chloride, a type of cobalt salt, has the chemical formula CoCl2. It is weakly toxic and easy to deliquesce. Cobalt chloride appears as pink to red crystals and is stable at room temperature. It will lose crystal water when exposed to heat. Anhydrous cobalt chloride appears as blue crystals and will turn back to red when it absorbs water in humid air. Cobalt chloride is easily soluble in water and in organic solvents such as ethanol, ether, acetone, and glycerol.

The main use of cobalt chloride is to prepare cobalt tetraoxide for use in the field of 3C lithium-ion batteries, and to prepare ternary precursors for use in the field of lithium-ion power batteries. In addition, cobalt chloride can also be used to produce cobalt oxide and metallic cobalt; it can be used in the electroplating industry; it can be used as a humidity and moisture indicator in instrument manufacturing; it can be used as a beer foam stabilizer and feed additive , paint driers, ammonia absorbers, chemical catalysts, glass ceramic colorants, analytical reagents, etc. Cobalt chloride can also be used in the medical field to treat aplastic anemia, renal anemia and other diseases.

Benefiting from the rapid development of the 3C electronics industry, the demand for cobalt resources in the global lithium-ion battery manufacturing field has increased rapidly in the 21st century. Around 2015, the global electric vehicle industry grew rapidly, and power battery production increased rapidly, further driving the demand for cobalt resources to rise. As the world’s largest producer of 3C electronics and electric vehicles, China’s lithium-ion battery industry is developing rapidly, and the global cobalt smelting and cobalt deep processing industries are gradually shifting to mainland China. At this stage, China has become the world’s major producer of metal cobalt, cobalt salts, and cobalt oxides, and its cobalt chloride production capacity continues to expand.

From a downstream perspective, 3C electronic lithium-ion batteries are the largest demand market for cobalt chloride. The outbreak of the new crown epidemic in 2020 and isolation requirements have led to a rapid expansion of the number of people working and studying at home. The demand for smartphones, PCs, etc. has grown rapidly, driving cobalt chloride. Market sentiment improved. Compared with cobalt sulfate, cobalt chloride has greater demand in the field of lithium-ion batteries for 3C electronics. Some cobalt sulfate production lines have been converted to produce cobalt chloride. Therefore, cobalt chloride production will show a growth trend in 2020.

According to the “China’s Cobalt Chloride Industry Development Prospects and Investment Risk Avoidance Suggestions Report 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center, Since 2021, the demand for 3C electronics has declined, and the demand for cobalt chloride in the lithium-ion battery field for 3C electronics has decreased. However, the production and sales of electric vehicles have resumed growth, and the demand for cobalt chloride in the power battery field has increased. In 2021, in the cobalt chloride downstream market, the proportion of demand for cobalt chloride in the field of cobalt tetroxide for 3C lithium-ion batteries has declined, while the proportion of demand for cobalt chloride in the field of ternary precursors for power batteries has increased.

Industry analysts said that since the second half of 2020, driven by the development of 3C electronics and electric vehicle industries, global demand for cobalt resources has continued. The cobalt resource market is in short supply and prices continue to rise, driving the price of cobalt chloride to continue to grow. In mid-November 2021, the average price quoted for cobalt chloride in my country was 107,500 yuan/ton. Judging from the development trends of the upstream, midstream and downstream, it is expected that the price of cobalt chloride will continue to run at a high level in 2022, and the industry will be highly prosperous.