SMM, May 8:
This week, the price of electrolyte has declined. Specifically, the average prices of electrolytes for ternary power batteries, LFP batteries, and LMO batteries have dropped to 22,150 yuan/mt, 18,200 yuan/mt, and 14,650 yuan/mt, respectively. Cost side, the prices of core raw materials, including lithium hexafluorophosphate, solvents, and additives, have all decreased, leading to a reduction in the overall manufacturing cost of electrolytes. On the demand side, although the downstream new energy battery market has shown some signs of recovery, the growth rate has been relatively small. Affected by recent tariff policy adjustments, the release of end-use market demand has been hindered. Facing the uncertainties in the market environment, downstream customers have generally adopted a cautious approach to production and stockpiling strategies, adhering to the principle of purchasing as needed. This has resulted in insufficient momentum in overall market demand, making it difficult to form a significant boosting effect on the industry chain. Supply side, major enterprises in the industry have continued to deepen the "produce based on sales" operational model, flexibly adjusting capacity according to actual market demand. However, with electrolyte prices remaining low for an extended period, corporate profit margins have been severely squeezed. Some enterprises, considering cost control and loss mitigation, have proactively avoided orders with excessively low prices and significant losses, resulting in a low overall operating rate in the industry. Based on a comprehensive assessment, considering that it is difficult to achieve substantial improvements in the supply-demand relationship in the short term and the lack of strong stimulating factors in the industry, it is expected that electrolyte prices will continue to decline slowly in the coming period.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lv Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Xu Mengqi 021-20707868
Hu Xuejie 021-20707858
