'Battery No.1' Chinese CATL Sees 10% Profit Rise Despite H1 Sales Decline

"Sales Decline Due to Battery Raw Material Price Drop"
Operating Costs Reduced by 26%, Total Profit Margin Up by 6.6%P

China's CATL, the world's number one battery manufacturer, recorded a net profit of 4.4 trillion KRW in the first half of this year. Although total sales decreased due to a drop in battery raw material prices, net profit increased by about 10% by reducing various costs.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

According to Chinese economic media Caixin on the 28th, CATL revealed in its recently released half-year financial report that its operating revenue this year was 166.77 billion yuan (approximately 31.82 trillion KRW), down 11.9% compared to the same period last year, but net profit during the same period increased by 10.4% to 22.86 billion yuan. Cash flow generated from operating activities totaled 44.71 billion yuan, up 20.6% compared to the first half of last year.

CATL's main business sectors include power batteries, storage batteries, battery raw materials and recycling, and battery mineral resources.

Caixin reported that the more than 10% decrease in CATL's sales in the first half of this year was due to the decline in prices of battery raw materials, which account for the largest share of sales. The average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fell by 68% in the first half of this year, reducing sales in the raw materials sector. During the same period, sales in the power battery sector also decreased by 19.2% year-on-year to 112.65 billion yuan.

However, thanks to a 25.8% reduction in overall operating costs, the gross profit margin rose by 6.55 percentage points to 26.9%.

Caixin also reported that as competition in the battery industry intensified, CATL's operating rate fell from 70.5% last year to 65.3% in the first half of this year. CATL's production capacity in the first half was a total of 323 GWh, production volume was 211 GWh, and the scale of facilities under production was 153 GWh. CATL stated that it will gradually increase the facility operating rate, and nearly half of the 153 GWh currently under construction is located in Hungary.

In the first half of this year, CATL's overseas sales totaled 50.53 billion yuan, accounting for 30.3% of total sales.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.