China’s lead-acid trade showed signs of weakness during September, with both imports and exports of batteries falling.
The country imported 964,300 less lead-acid batteries in October, of which SLI batteries fell 33.64% (174,300) month-on-month (MoM), reported Shanghai Metals Market.
The overall slip of 63.3% from September’s 2.63 million overall pieces comes despite the country’s import lead-acid market showing year-on-year growth of 25.7% (8.55 million pieces) during January-October.
A sharp u-turn for the industry after China Customs reported lead-acid battery imports had fallen 6.3% (4.29 million) year-on-year (YoY) in the first half of the year.
Concerns for the importation market were matched by the export trade, as figures showed a fall of 0.67% (18.12 million) MoM in September.
Of this, SLI batteries accounted for 1.48 million pieces, down 22.79% from August, with other types of batteries accounting for 16.64 million pieces, up 1.92% MoM.
This was due to limited growth in overseas demand, said China Customs.
However, the country is still exporting slightly more YOY, with a rise of 8.8%, the equivalent of 178million lead-acid battery pieces.
Market research analysts Technavio estimate the Asia-Pacific region will dominate the global market for lead-acid batteries up to 2019.
The augmented demand for stationary lead-acid batteries from the power utilities sector is expected to result in the region’s high market share during this period.
The report also forecasts the global market for lead-acid batteries will show a CAGR of almost 7.5% thanks to non-automobile applications including forklifts, railroad, and mining vehicles.
