Year-End Demand Showed No Weakness; This Week's Energy Storage Battery Cell Prices Continued to Decline

This week, energy storage battery cell prices continued their downward trend. Cost side, the main reason was the pullback in cathode active material and copper prices, which drove down energy storage battery cell costs. According to SMM calculations, as of last Friday, the theoretical cost of a 280Ah energy storage battery cell was 0.309 yuan/Wh. Although domestic grid connection procurement demand decreased by year-end, the presence of overseas "rush for installations" demand kept the production and sales of energy storage battery cells optimistic. However, in terms of battery cell prices, due to the accelerated iteration of high-capacity battery cells, the price of 314Ah cells is expected to continue declining, benefiting from lower material costs and economies of scale. Against the backdrop of technological advancements in high-capacity battery cells and the easing of supply-demand imbalance, the price of 280Ah cells may stabilize in the short term. The year-end destocking by enterprises could lead to a rapid decline in the price of 100Ah cells, while the price changes of 50Ah cells, limited by their market applications, will be influenced by subsequent cost adjustments.