With the release of the "Top 500 Private Enterprises in China in 2024" by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the threshold for inclusion on the list this year is 26.3 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.3 billion yuan from the previous year.

According to the statistics of the "China Times" reporter, a total of 19 battery and energy storage related companies are on the list, with a total revenue of 2.67 trillion yuan, accounting for more than 6%. Huawei, BYD (002594. SZ), CATL (300750. SZ) and Tianneng Holdings' operating income exceeded 100 billion yuan. At the same time, the rankings of 13 companies have improved compared with last year, and Ganfeng Lithium (002460. SZ), Sunwoda (300207. SZ) and 6 other companies have retreated in the rankings. In addition, new companies on the list this year include Huawei, Gotion Hi-Tech (002074. SZ) and Hubei Xinzi Renewable Resources Group. Last year's 460th ranked Rongbai New Energy (688005. SH) is mainly engaged in ternary cathode materials, which fell out of the list this year.

In terms of regions, Guangdong has the largest number of affiliated enterprises, accounting for 5 out of 19. Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Energy Policy Research Institute of Xiamen University, said in an interview with the China Times that private enterprises are the main force of new energy, and the development of new energy is an important process for the development of private enterprises, and Guangdong's business environment has always been advantageous. Bai Wenxi, chief economist of China Enterprise Capital Alliance, pointed out that the battery and energy storage industry is expected to continue to develop in the direction of large capacity, large-scale, easy recycling and digitalization, and with the increase of policy support, the commercialization of the power system and the maturity of the business model, the installed capacity of energy storage lithium batteries will maintain accelerated growth.

19 companies accounted for more than 6% of revenue

On October 12, the list of "2024 China's Top 500 Private Enterprises" was announced. Since 1999, this is the 26th time that the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce has conducted a survey on private enterprises above designated size, and the revenue in 2023 is used as the basis for ranking.

The top 500 private enterprises are more focused on industry, and the number of manufacturing enterprises accounts for 66.40%. On the whole, the operating scale of these 500 enterprises has maintained growth, and 392 of them, or nearly 8 percent of enterprises, have operating income higher than in 2022. In 2023, the total revenue of the top 500 private enterprises will be 419,100 yuan, with an average household of 83.822 billion yuan, and 117 enterprises will be above the average. There were 97 enterprises with operating income of more than 100 billion yuan, an increase of 2 over the previous year; There were 9 companies with more than 500 billion yuan, an increase of 1 from the previous year; More than one trillion yuan is Jingdong Group, the same as last year.

However, this year's threshold for inclusion on the list is slightly lower than last year, from 27.6 billion yuan to 26.3 billion yuan, a decrease of 1.3 billion yuan. At the same time, the revenue scale of the companies ranked 303rd to 500th is lower than that of companies in the same ranking last year.

Among the 47 industries distributed by the top 500 private enterprises, 25 industries have increased their total operating income and total assets over the previous year, mainly involving electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing, computer, communication and other electronic equipment manufacturing, software and information technology services, etc. The reporter counted a total of 19 enterprises with strong upstream and downstream correlation with batteries and energy storage, involving upstream resources, raw materials, battery manufacturing, system integration and resource regeneration, with a total revenue of 2.67 trillion yuan, accounting for 6.37% of the top 500.

Lin Boqiang told reporters that at present, private enterprises are the main force of new energy, and the development of new energy is an important process for the development of private enterprises. However, state-owned enterprises may catch up in the future.

Among these 19 companies, Huawei and BYD ranked in the top ten, ranking 4th and 7th respectively, with revenues of 704.174 billion yuan and 602.315 billion yuan respectively. According to data from the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance, Huawei ranked third in the world in terms of shipments of energy storage system integrators in China in 2022. BYD's self-produced power batteries, which ranks first in the world in terms of sales of new energy vehicles, are second only to CATL in terms of power battery shipments.

CATL, ranked 14th, and Tianneng Holdings, ranked 28th, entered the top 100, and were also the two remaining companies with revenues of more than 100 billion yuan, with 400.917 billion yuan and 225.151 billion yuan respectively. Envision Energy, Sungrow, Shanshan Holdings, Ningxia Tianyuan Manganese and Huayou Cobalt all have revenues of more than 50 billion yuan; The revenue of Shenzhen Leoch Power Development, EVE Lithium Energy, Xinwangda, Hunan Yuneng and Tianqi Lithium is in the range of 40 billion yuan; The revenue of CNGR, Ganfeng Lithium, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, and Jingmen GEM New Materials is in the range of 30 billion yuan; Hubei Xinzi Renewable Energy Group's revenue was 28.495 billion yuan.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to Huawei, which did not participate in the evaluation last year, Guoxuan Hi-Tech and Hubei Xinzi Renewable Resources Group are all new companies on the list this year, ranking 432nd and 474th respectively.

Guangdong leads the country

2023 is not an easy year for the industry, whether it is the sharp price reduction of upstream raw materials or the intensification of competition, which has brought pressure to enterprises. However, most of the 19 companies improved their rankings from the previous year. Sungrow, ranked 151st, improved the most, advancing 153 places, followed by EVE Lithium Energy in 255th and Jingmen GEM New Materials in 458th, advancing 80 and 26 respectively.

Bai Wenxi told reporters that the battery and energy storage industry has developed rapidly around the world in recent years, especially in China, where the development of this industry is particularly rapid. Among China's top 500 private enterprises, the rise in the number and ranking of battery and energy storage companies indicates the rapid development of this industry and shows the strong growth momentum of these enterprises.

Among the six companies that retreated, the lithium company Ganfeng Lithium fell 122 places to 411th, and Tianqi Lithium and Huayou Cobalt, two upstream resource companies, fell 2 places to 301st and 3 places to 170th, respectively. Battery companies Xinwangda and Shenzhen Leoch Power Development fell 40 places to 258th and 5 places to 253rd respectively. Hunan Yuneng, a cathode material manufacturer, dropped 11 places to 293rd.

In addition, Rongbai New Energy, which focuses on ternary cathode materials, fell out of the top 500 this year, achieving a revenue of 30.123 billion yuan last year, ranking 460th. Judging from the performance in 2023, Rongbai Technology's revenue will be 22.657 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24.78%, and it said that it is because of the decline in the price of raw material lithium salt, and the price of products will decline. Pacific Securities pointed out that in the first half of 2024, the shipment of ternary cathode materials of Rongbai Technology increased by nearly 17% year-on-year, and the domestic market share of high-nickel ternary cathode increased by 5 percentage points year-on-year. In addition, lithium manganese iron phosphate and sodium battery cathode materials will gradually contribute to profits.

In terms of regions, 5 of these 19 companies are located in Guangdong, namely Huawei, BYD, Shenzhen Leoch Power Development, EVE Lithium Energy and Xinwangda. In addition, Zhejiang, Anhui and Hubei have two each, and Jiangsu, Shanghai, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Ningxia have one each. Lin Boqiang said that Guangdong Province still has its advantages, from reform and opening up to market rules and standardized management, it has always been at the forefront of the country, similar to Shanghai, and has a relatively good business environment.

Bai Wenxi believes that the battery and energy storage industry in China is in a stage of rapid development, driven by technological progress, policy support and increased market demand. In the future, this industry is expected to continue to maintain growth momentum and become a new economic growth point in the energy sector.

According to a report issued by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, the total export value of the top 500 private enterprises in 2023 will reach 297.175 billion US dollars, an increase of 7.53% over the previous year; It accounted for 8.79% of China's total exports, an increase of 1.03 percentage points over the previous year, and the proportion remained higher for five consecutive years. There were 206 enterprises to carry out overseas investment, an increase of 9.57% over the previous year, of which the number of overseas investment projects of electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing enterprises was relatively large.

In an interview with reporters, Song Zhongchrome, an energy storage analyst at InfoLink Consulting, said that combined with the production scheduling expectations of various manufacturers in the second half of the year and the prosperity of various regional markets, InfoLink expects the global energy storage market to continue to grow, that is, the global energy storage cell shipments are expected to be 270 GWh in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 37%; Energy storage system shipments are expected to be 200 GWh, a year-on-year increase of 38%; The installed capacity of energy storage systems is expected to be 153 GWh, a year-on-year increase of 46%.