New Chuzhou's 2025: Price Increase Benefits Not Fully Realized, Rare Decline in Overseas Revenue

Ask AI · How does New Jersey-Bond’s integrated progress falling behind affect earnings leverage?

This article source: Times Business Research Institute Author: Chen Jiaxin

Image source: TuChong Creative

Source|Times Business Research Institute

Author|Chen Jiaxin

Editor|Han Xun

Amid the collective rebound in lithium battery material prices, the performance of the leading electrolyte companies still shows a significant gap.

On the evening of March 23, New Jersey-Bond (300037.SZ) released its 2025 annual report, delivering a “double increase in revenue and profit” scorecard: full-year operating revenue of RMB 9.64B, up 22.84% year over year; and net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 1.1B, up 16.48% year over year, ending the trend of consecutive net profit declines since 2023. The core driver of the performance rebound comes from the bottoming and rebound of electrolyte and lithium hexafluorophosphate prices in the fourth quarter of 2025.

However, compared with peers Tian Ci Materials (002709.SZ, 2025 net profit attributable to shareholders up 181.43% year over year), New Jersey-Bond’s profit growth rate is clearly lagging; the core issues may lie in its relatively lower self-supply proportion of lithium hexafluorophosphate raw material, its integrated layout progress lagging behind peers, and its failure to fully benefit from this round of price-increase tailwinds. At the same time, the company’s overseas revenue also saw a rare decline, casting a shadow over its overseas capacity expansion efforts.

On March 24 and 25, regarding issues such as the self-supply proportion of raw materials, the decline in lithium hexafluorophosphate prices, and the drop in overseas revenue, Times Business Research Institute sent a letter to New Jersey-Bond and followed up with a call to inquire. New Jersey-Bond replied that it would not accept private research by third-party institutions or non-public Q&A.

Integrated progress lagging peers, not fully benefiting from price increases

In 2025, the timing of New Jersey-Bond’s performance rebound was highly linked to the price trends of lithium hexafluorophosphate and electrolyte. According to Tonghuashun iFinD data, the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate surged from RMB 61k/ton at the end of September 2025 to RMB 180k/ton at the end of November, with a nearly 200% increase over two months. Meanwhile, during the same period, the price of lithium iron phosphate–type electrolyte also rebounded in sync, rising from RMB 16.9k/ton at the end of September to RMB 27.8k/ton at the end of December, a 64.5% increase.

Rising prices directly drove New Jersey-Bond’s profit improvement. In the fourth quarter of 2025, New Jersey-Bond achieved operating revenue of RMB 61k, up 38.67% year over year; net profit of RMB 349 million, up 45.17% year over year. The growth rate was significantly higher than in the first three quarters, making it a key driver of the full-year performance rebound.

From the business structure perspective, battery chemicals remain New Jersey-Bond’s core growth engine. In 2025, this segment achieved revenue of RMB 180k, up 30.57% year over year, with its share of total revenue increasing to 69.29%. The electronic information chemicals business also performed strongly, achieving revenue of RMB 16.9k, up 29.14% year over year, mainly driven by emerging fields such as AI and data centers.

But behind the impressive performance, the growth-rate gap between New Jersey-Bond and peers remains significant. The annual report disclosed by electrolyte leader Tian Ci Materials (002709.SZ) shows that in 2025 the company achieved net profit of RMB 27.8k, a sharp year-on-year increase of 181.43%. Of this, fourth-quarter net profit reached RMB 941 million, up 554.09% year over year, contributing more than 70% of full-year profit in a single quarter.

The core gap may stem from integration progress. Taking lithium hexafluorophosphate—the key core raw material for electrolyte—as an example, according to New Jersey-Bond’s October 2025 earnings presentation, the company’s self-supply proportion of lithium hexafluorophosphate is 50%～70%, while Tian Ci Materials has the world’s largest lithium hexafluorophosphate production capacity (about 110k tons), with a global market share of about 37% and a self-sufficiency rate of as high as over 90%.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the price increase of lithium hexafluorophosphate far outpaced that of electrolyte. The cost-side upward pressure significantly squeezed companies whose self-supply rate was insufficient. Tian Ci Materials’ integration layout advantage became evident in this round, enabling it to fully benefit from the price-increase tailwind. Meanwhile, New Jersey-Bond, due to still relatively high reliance on purchases, had its profit leverage substantially weakened.

In fact, New Jersey-Bond is also accelerating its integrated layout. In early 2026, the company announced that its 36k-ton lithium hexafluorophosphate capacity target has been completed through technological upgrades, entering the trial production ramp-up period. After production ramps up, its self-supply proportion for lithium hexafluorophosphate is expected to increase significantly. In addition to lithium hexafluorophosphate, New Jersey-Bond is also advancing the expansion and upgrade project for its annual 10,000-ton lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (LiFSI) to further strengthen its raw-material self-supply capability.

The sharp drop in lithium hexafluorophosphate prices in the first quarter of 2026 has also raised market concerns about New Jersey-Bond’s subsequent performance trend. According to Tonghuashun iFinD data, as of March 25, the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate had fallen to RMB 106.5k/ton.

At New Jersey-Bond’s March 24 earnings presentation, the company stated that the decline in lithium hexafluorophosphate prices in the first quarter of 2026 was mainly influenced by policy adjustments in the power battery sector, replenishment of industry inventories, and the release of some production capacity. However, demand in the energy storage sector remains strong, and overall industry supply and demand remains in a relatively tight state. Given that prices of basic chemical products such as solvents and core additives have continued to rise, the impact of the lithium hexafluorophosphate price decline was effectively offset, so the company’s electrolyte product pricing remained relatively stable.

Rare decline in overseas revenue, or hindered “going global”

Global power battery and energy storage markets are expanding at high speed, and it has become an industry consensus that Chinese battery materials companies should go global. According to data from the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance, in 2025 China’s power battery exports were 189.7 GWh, up 41.9% year over year; energy storage battery exports were 115.3 GWh, up 67.9% year over year. Against this backdrop, New Jersey-Bond has continued to increase investment in its overseas capacity layout, trying to open up growth space through globalization.

According to the announcement of New Jersey-Bond’s March 24 earnings presentation, the company is currently focusing on advancing four major overseas projects, including: the Southeast Asia (Malaysia) project—building electrolyte and core materials production bases, positioned to serve key customers in Southeast Asia and India. It is currently the leading-scale production base in the Southeast Asia region for this sector, with production expected to commence by the end of 2026; the Europe (Poland) project—phase one electrolyte capacity has already been put into operation, while phase two is planned for further expansion. It is positioned to serve European local and China-based battery companies going global, meeting requirements related to Europe’s green energy policies; the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) project—planning and constructing a carbonate solvent project. Leveraging local low-cost crude oil and natural gas resources, it aims to build a global solvent core hub, supplying the Middle East and Europe markets; the United States (Ohio) project—land acquisition has been completed, and it is setting up an electrolyte and battery chemicals base. It is positioned to expand into North America’s high-growth lithium battery market, advancing on a schedule aligned with local industrial policy in a prudent manner.

To support overseas capacity construction, in December 2025 New Jersey-Bond disclosed its H-share issuance and listing plan, intending to raise funds via an IPO in Hong Kong.

However, the determination for overseas expansion and the actual performance have shown a clear divergence. In 2025, New Jersey-Bond’s overseas sales revenue was RMB 3.02B, down 16.95% year over year, breaking the momentum of continuous growth over many prior years. This figure stands in sharp contrast with the company’s aggressive schedule of overseas capacity buildout, and it has also triggered market concerns that its overseas market expansion may be hindered.

From the gross margin perspective, New Jersey-Bond’s overseas business still has a significant advantage: in 2025 its overseas gross margin was 42.09%, far higher than 20.69% for the domestic market, reflecting the profitability potential in its overseas market.

The decline in New Jersey-Bond’s overseas revenue may be driven by multiple factors: first, the overseas capacity has not yet fully translated into performance; overseas projects such as Malaysia and the United States are still in the construction phase and have not fully released capacity. The company has invested substantial resources in advance, but the revenue side has not yet been realized in sync. Second, competition in overseas markets has intensified; competitors such as Tian Ci Materials and LG Chem have accelerated their overseas market expansion, squeezing New Jersey-Bond’s market share. Third, trade barriers and localization policies in overseas markets have affected domestic battery materials exports.

A path to break the deadlock: accelerate integration and land overseas capacity

New Jersey-Bond’s 2025 performance reveals both dual challenges in integration layout progress and overseas market expansion timing, but it also points to a direction for breaking the deadlock.

On the cost side, New Jersey-Bond needs to accelerate capacity construction for core raw materials such as lithium hexafluorophosphate, quickly increase the self-supply ratio, and build a cost “moat.” At present, the 36k-ton lithium hexafluorophosphate capacity has entered the trial production stage; it needs to speed up achieving stable mass production. At the same time, it should accelerate the LiFSI project progress and improve vertical integration across the industrial chain.

On the market side, it must accelerate the landing of overseas capacity and realize a virtuous cycle of “capacity construction and order fulfillment.” The Malaysia project is expected to begin operations by the end of 2026. It needs to ensure project construction progress, connect with downstream customers in advance, and ensure that once capacity is released, it can be quickly converted into revenue. Projects such as in the Middle East and Poland need to be advanced steadily; with regional market demand in mind, optimize product structure, and focus on high-growth areas such as European new energy vehicle companies and energy storage in the Middle East.

From an industry-cycle perspective, in the second half of 2025 the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate rose sharply, and by early 2026 the market had already seen a pullback. The industry is entering a stage of rebalancing supply and demand. New Jersey-Bond needs to capture the cycle’s fluctuation rhythm: on the cost side, reduce the impact of volatility through an integrated layout; on the market side, broaden growth space through a global layout.

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