CATL has announced an international patent application for a sodium-ion battery

As production order fully resumed after the Chinese New Year, the sodium-ion battery industry chain saw a strong recovery in March. Production across the four major segments—cathode, anode, electrolyte, and battery cell—posted substantial growth both YoY and MoM, with industry prosperity rebounding markedly.

Iron phosphate negotiations in April were deadlocked, with offers hitting 13,000 yuan/mt. The price surge appeared raw-material driven, but in fact reflected pricing power shifting upstream after a reversal in supply-demand fundamentals. Downstream buyers cited “cost increases” to push back, yet conveniently forgot the upstream losses quietly absorbed over the past three years. This was never about simple cost pass-through—it was a restructuring of profit distribution across the chain.

[SMM, March 30] Technological iteration in the sodium-ion battery industry accelerated, and the anode-free route achieved a critical breakthrough. Recently, Nayuan New Materials Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. officially released its NFS anode-free sodium-ion battery prototype product. The battery cell's measured energy density reached 220 Wh/kg, significantly higher than the industry's mainstream level of 120 Wh/kg, providing important technological support for sodium-ion batteries to break through performance bottlenecks and expand application scenarios.