Panasonic Samsung rechargeable battery price war upgrade

Bloomberg reported that the impact of overcapacity on rechargeable batteries in the industry is further intensifying. Analysts said that the world’s top two rechargeable battery suppliers Panasonic and Samsung’s Samsung SDI will also further increase the price cuts of batteries, the price between the two manufacturers. The battle became even fiercer.

Hideo Takeshita, an analyst at the Tokyo Institute of Information Technology, said that the price of lithium-ion batteries will reach 19% this year, the highest in the past five years. Shiro Mikoshiba, an analyst at Nomura Holdings in Japan, is even more pessimistic that the ever-increasing overcapacity will cause rechargeable battery prices to drop by up to 25%.

This phenomenon is even more pronounced in Japan and South Korea, which account for 75% of global production capacity. With the development of electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery sales will reach three times in the next six years, so battery manufacturers do not hesitate to gain more market share at the expense of profits.

Mitsushige Akino, general manager of Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co., Ltd., said that battery manufacturers may experience a period of difficulty as prices decline. Only those manufacturers with larger market shares will obtain profits from them, and it is difficult for other manufacturers to share their profits.

Analyst Takeshita said that compared to Japanese competitors, Korean manufacturers have a rather good day. Because they can buy cheaper raw materials from China, the production is also faster, and the Korean dollar's bottom exchange rate also makes Korean manufacturers more competitive.

Panasonic spokesperson said: "We will continue our price war with South Korean manufacturers. We will re-examine the production process to strengthen cost competitiveness and win this price war."

Tokyo Information Technology Research Institute expects that Samsung SDI is likely to surpass Sanyo (which has been completely acquired by Panasonic) this year to become the largest lithium-ion battery manufacturer.