China: Global demand charges up China's lithium-ion battery export.

Storyline Global demand charges up China's lithium-ion battery export China's lithium-ion battery exports are charged up on the sharp increase in global demand for energy storage products this year. Staff from a Shenzhen-based energy storage company said the beginning of the year is usually a quiet period. But this year was different. Their Indian clients have renewed their orders for this year and are negotiating about next year's purchase plan. Indian buyer: "We have already placed orders for close to 200 megawatt-hours, already have been placed and executed. Now we are going to place another 500 megawatt-hour for CNN utility level. So, they are in the final stage of discussion. So, we are talking about another 500 megawatt-hour order which is going to be finalized in the next 15 days to one month. So we are planning for next year for the deployment elsewhere, so we started a discussion." The company's vice president said although Southeast Asia remains their main export destination, demand from Australia and the U.S. is also picking up this year. Their main exports are lithium iron phosphate batteries, but they've started to increase shipments of sodium-ion batteries as well. Liu Hepeng, Vice President, Shenzhen Power Supply Company: "From December to April this year, we've seen a sharp rise in export, with a 150 percent increase in shipment in the first quarter." Customs data shows that in Q1, China exported about 26 billion U.S. dollars of lithium-ion batteries, primarily to countries in the EU and ASEAN member countries. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]