Why has the cancellation of the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries, which the industry has been calling for for many years, not landed?
The price of a set of 60-volt 45-amp lead-acid batteries is around 300 yuan, which includes 4% consumption tax. At first glance, the amount is not large, but it adds up to a large expense.
"In the manufacturing industry, lead-acid batteries are one of the few that are subject to consumption tax. Over the years since the implementation of the consumption tax collection policy, enterprises have called for a strong stop, and there are great opinions, and there are many controversies in all walks of life. Recently, Liu Yi, deputy general manager of Hengyang Ruida Power Supply, said in an interview with a reporter from China Energy News that with the strengthening of national supervision and the self-drive of the industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency, the production technology, process and equipment of lead-acid batteries have been significantly optimized, and the resource recovery rate has reached more than 99%.
Liu Yi believes that the mainland is a major producer and exporter of lead-acid batteries, and lead-acid batteries still occupy an important position in low-speed electric vehicles, energy storage systems, UPS, data centers and other fields. In order to help the high-quality development of the industry, the time is ripe to stop the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries.
The industry has changed dramatically
Not environmentally friendly, high pollution - this is the label of lead-acid batteries. In the past few years, driven by the surge in demand for low-speed electric vehicles, some workshop-style "low and small" enterprises have quickly "emerged", and the lead dust and acid mist have not been purified, and the waste acid water has been directly discharged without treatment, and the environmental pollution has been shocking and deeply pricked the social nerves.
Resolute measures should be taken to do a good job in source management. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has established a list of enterprises with standardized conditions in the lead-acid battery industry, and since January 1, 2016, the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries has been levied at a rate of 4% to reduce or limit the high energy consumption and high pollution of the lead-acid battery industry, and advocate energy conservation, environmental protection and green development.
"At that time, the demand of the industry surged, and it was difficult for standards and management measures to be put in place immediately, and there were some unruly behaviors in the production process, which dragged down the development of the entire industry. Liu Yi pointed out that the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries has played a positive guiding role to a large extent, forcing "low and small scattered" production enterprises to accelerate the elimination.
"At the same time, the competent authorities from the process equipment, environmental protection, occupational health, energy conservation and recycling and other aspects of the development of the corresponding management measures, the formation of a complete set of index system, it can be said that the excessive development of lead-acid batteries has been reversed, the industrial concentration has been greatly improved, the number of enterprises has been reduced from more than 2,000 to about 300, in the technological transformation, the production process has been significantly improved. Liu Yanlong, former secretary general of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, told the China Energy News.
"After years of rectification, the lead-acid battery industry has undergone earth-shaking changes. Liu Yi said that the environmental protection level of the mainland lead-acid battery industry has been significantly improved, through the rectification of backward production capacity, site health protection distance does not meet the requirements, etc., the survival of the fittest industry team has been basically completed, the pollution problem has been basically solved, and some enterprises have achieved ultra-low emissions, and even ultra-low emissions. The consumption tax on lead-acid batteries has completed its mission of curbing the production and consumption of highly polluting lead-acid batteries.
The pressure on business operations is huge
Consumption tax has really increased the cost burden on enterprises. According to the data, from 2016 to 2022, the consumption tax payment amount of the lead-acid battery industry exceeded 37 billion, with an average annual tax payment of about 5.3 billion. The profit margin of lead-acid battery enterprises is low, and the profit margin of the main business has been in the low range of 2%-4% for many years.
Liu Changlai, chairman of Camel Co., Ltd., reflected that the negative impact of the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries on the industry has been detrimental to the high-quality development of enterprises. Taking the leading enterprises in the industry, Tianneng Co., Ltd. and Camel Co., Ltd., as examples, will pay consumption tax of 1.29 billion yuan and 313 million yuan respectively in 2022, accounting for 35.8% and 20% of their total tax payments, respectively, and the net profit margin will be 4.39% and 3.4% respectively, and the economic benefits of enterprises have been running at a low level for a long time.
In recent years, the living space of lead-acid batteries has been continuously squeezed. "The profits of many enterprises have not reached 4 points, and under the impact of the rapid development of lithium batteries, the pressure on the survival and development of lead-acid battery companies has increased. Liu Yi said that lead-acid batteries belong to the asset-heavy industry, whether it is production equipment, technical reserves, technology, environmental protection and other aspects of the investment is very large, consumption tax to a certain extent drag down enterprise R & D innovation and market competition.
Liu Changlai further said that the lead-acid battery for automobile start-up is the core component of the automobile, and there is a problem of duplicate collection of automobile consumption tax and lead-acid battery consumption tax. "Among the existing consumption tax items, consumption tax ranging from 3% to 20% is levied on passenger cars and medium and light commercial vehicles with different displacements. Each vehicle is equipped with at least one start-up lead-acid battery, which is subject to a 4% GST when sold to the OEM. ”
It is not clear whether it will be canceled
A variety of technical routes are blooming and competing for development, which is the development characteristics and basic strategy of the mainland battery industry. Despite the impact of lithium batteries, lead-acid batteries occupy an important position in low-speed electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and data centers based on the advantages of low price, safe use, and high regeneration rate.
So, why has the cancellation of the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries, which the industry has been calling for for many years, been delayed?
"The authorities are also very entangled. Industry insiders admit that the pollution of the manufacturing process of the backbone enterprises of lead-acid batteries has been fundamentally improved, but the cases of environmental pollution caused by illegal collection and disposal of waste lead-acid batteries still occur from time to time. "Policies can't be changed overnight, and lead pollution has had a bad social impact. ”
In May last year, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly released typical cases of severely punishing the crime of environmental pollution by hazardous waste in accordance with the law, one of which shows that between 2018 and July 2020, the defendant fraudulently used the name of a company that had obtained a hazardous waste business license without obtaining a hazardous waste business license, and successively hired others to purchase and purchase in relevant factories, courtyards or groves in Dongmaquan Town, Wuqing District, Tianjin and other places. Dismantle the waste lead-acid battery, and discharge the acid collected from the dismantled battery into the soil or public drainage system without seepage prevention measures through seepage pits, sewers, etc. After testing, the lead content and acid values of many soils were significantly higher than those of normal soils, and they had been seriously polluted.
According to the reporter of China Energy News, lead-acid battery pollution mainly occurs in production and recycling. Lead gas, lead dust and wastewater discharged in the production process should be treated in accordance with environmental protection standards. Lead recycling has great economic value, many small enterprises and small workshops are willing to engage in recycling work, but they often lack the necessary recycling equipment and technology, rough dismantling, directly dumping acid to take out the lead plate, resulting in acid pollution. According to the relevant regulations, waste lead-acid batteries are hazardous wastes, and units engaged in the collection, storage, utilization and disposal of hazardous wastes shall apply for a license.
The top priority is to strengthen supervision
Zhang Tianren, chairman of Tianneng Holding Group, believes that to solve the problem of energy conservation and environmental protection, or should be achieved through the country's sound laws and regulations, government functional departments to strengthen supervision and other means, the environmental pollution cases of the lead-acid battery industry are mainly caused by "lack of regulations, lack of supervision, poor management, and insufficient understanding", not the problem of the battery product itself, as long as the supervision in each link is in place, it will not cause pollution risks to the environment.
"At present, the formal recycling enterprises of lead-acid batteries are 'not full', and the problem of low capacity utilization is more prominent, and some small, scattered, poor factories and even illegal workshops have low operating costs, which can grab retired battery resources at high prices, and many batteries are flowing to small factories. This has also exacerbated the pressure on the survival of formal enterprises. In Liu Yanlong's view, the top priority for the development of the lead-acid battery industry is to improve laws and regulations, extend the producer responsibility system, and greatly increase the cost of violations. Through the establishment of a traceability system and other means, the closed-loop supervision of the whole process from source production, mid-end use to end collection, transportation and regeneration is realized, and the management level of lead-acid batteries is further improved. Enterprises should also increase technology research and development efforts, solve the shortcomings of low specific energy, and improve the competitiveness of lead-acid battery products. At the same time, it is recommended to introduce the implementation measures for the capacity replacement of the recycled lead industry, and shut down some inefficient and backward production capacity that does not meet the "standard conditions for the recycled lead industry", so as to promote the healthy development of the recycled lead industry.
The mainland is the world's largest producer and exporter of lead-acid batteries. In 2022, the output of lead-acid batteries will be 216.5 million kVAh, accounting for one-third of the world's total, and the export volume will be 216 million, with a total value of 3.903 billion US dollars. The advantages of the lead-acid battery industry development should not be abandoned.
Liu Changlai suggested that with reference to the experience of canceling the consumption tax on automobile tires, priority should be given to canceling the consumption tax on lead-acid batteries used in automobile starting. At the same time, for enterprises that have implemented the extended producer responsibility system, established a complete recycling system for waste lead-acid batteries, equipped with a corresponding information management system, and monitored and managed the whole process of recycling, they are exempt from battery consumption tax.
Zhang Tianren suggested that the battery consumption tax rate may be appropriately reduced, which can be reduced by 1 to 2 percentage points. At the same time, the lead-acid battery, an important component of electric bicycles, will be included in the national encouraged export product catalog, and enjoy the same export tax rebate policy as lithium batteries. Reduce the export cost of enterprises, improve the international competitiveness of products, and further stimulate the enthusiasm of enterprises to "go global".
"The development pattern of the lead-acid battery industry has stabilized, and it is difficult to have explosive growth. Liu Yi said that more refined, better, safer and lower cost are the competition and future development trend of lead-acid battery market, and improve competitiveness through strong technological innovation.
Text | Reporter of this newspaper Lu Qixiu
EndEdit | Yan Zhiqiang