[SMM Weekly Review] Expectations for Chinese New Year Market Closure Heat Up, Second-Life Application Market Prices Hold Steady This Week (2026.02.9-2026.02.12)
This week, the second-life battery market maintained overall stable price performance. Cost side, lithium carbonate prices generally trended upward, while nickel and cobalt salt prices remained relatively steady, providing some cost support for second-life battery cells. Supply side, the second-life battery market gradually entered the Chinese New Year break phase, compounded by the traditional industry off-season, leading to a noticeable contraction in overall enterprise shipments and a continued reduction in market circulation supply. Demand side, influenced by fluctuations in lithium chemical prices, downstream enterprises adopted a more cautious purchasing mindset. Additionally, most enterprises operating normally during the Chinese New Year had completed stockpiling in advance, while others had already confirmed their Chinese New Year break schedules, resulting in a continued weakening of overall purchase willingness. Under the combined effect of multiple factors, overall market transactions entered a sluggish period. Although current fluctuations in spot lithium chemical prices introduced some variability in the cost side of second-life battery cells, price transmission still requires time. Coupled with the overall pullback in market demand during the Chinese New Year period, only minimal transactions occurred for second-life battery cells this week, with prices remaining generally stable. This trend is expected to persist until the end of the Chinese New Year holiday.