[SMM Analysis] Sluggish Market as Separator Production Declines

SMM January 26 News:

In January 2025, lithium battery separator production decreased 6% MoM, up 59% YoY. By process, wet-process separator production decreased 6% MoM, up 67% YoY, while dry-process separator production decreased 7% MoM, up 36% YoY.

Supply and demand side, the lithium battery separator market in January was in a state of mutual weakness. With the Chinese New Year approaching, most end-users had completed year-end stockpiling, and the market entered the off-season, with downstream demand appearing relatively weak. Meanwhile, due to prolonged price wars and customer price suppression, separator prices had been pushed to a low range, limiting the profit margins of separator companies. Under such market conditions, separator companies tended to control inventory, leading to varying degrees of production reduction among major separator producers, and the overall operating rate of the market showed a downward trend.

In February, affected by the Chinese New Year holiday, downstream battery cell manufacturers' demand is expected to narrow further, with lithium battery separator production projected to decline by 11% MoM.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838
Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870
Rui Ma 021-51595780
Ying Xu 021-51666707
Disheng Feng 021-51666714
Yujun Liu 021-20707895
Yanlin Lü 021-20707875
Ye Yuan 021-51595792
Chensi Lin 021-51666836
Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711
Haohan Zhang 021-51666752
Zihan Wang 021-51666914
Xiaoxuan Ren 021-20707866
Yushuo Liang 021-20707892
Jie Wang 021-51595902
Yang Xu 021-51666760,

Mengqi Xu 021-20707868