Early January 2025 - Late January 2025:Pre-Chinese New Year inventory buildup drives active market transactions and price increases

In the first half of 2025, all segments of the sodium-ion battery industry chain demonstrated significant growth. However, the industry also faced concurrent challenges of technological route changes, cost pressures, and market challenges, marking a critical turning point amid rapid development.

[SMM Analysis: Social Inventory of Lead Ingot Increases as Expected on the Eve of Delivery; Follow-up Focus on Production Trends of Lead Smelters] SMM News on July 14: According to SMM, as of July 14, the total social inventory of lead ingot across five regions reached 63,400 mt, an increase of 5,600 mt from July 7 and an increase of 2,400 mt from July 10.

Semi-annual Market Review & Outlook for Copper Cathode Rod: How Did Unexpected Cut-throat Competition in Processing Fees Shape the Market? [SMM Analysis]: With frequent tariff disputes and intense price competition, the copper cathode rod market in 2025 has experienced multiple fluctuations, even witnessing zero or negative processing fees in mid-year. Now that half of 2025 has passed, how are downstream consumption and processing fees performing? What are the differences or similarities in the YoY operating rate performance in H1? Below is a summary of the semi-annual review of the copper cathode rod market:

[SMM Analysis: Social Inventory of Lead Ingot Continues to Increase as Delivery Period Approaches] SMM News on July 10: According to SMM, as of July 10, the total social inventory of lead ingot in five regions tracked by SMM reached 61,100 mt, an increase of 4,200 mt from July 3 and 3,200 mt from July 7.

[SMM Analysis: Unprecedented Price Competition Pressure in the Industry - Will the Operating Rate of Copper Cathode Rod Decline Continuously Against the Trend on a YoY Basis?] According to SMM, the operating rate of copper cathode rod producers in June was 67.29%, down 2.97 percentage points MoM and 2.85 percentage points lower than the expected value. However, the operating rate of copper cathode rod producers increased by 0.74 percentage points YoY in June. Among them, the operating rate of large enterprises was 79.04%, that of medium-sized enterprises was 49.78%, and that of small enterprises was 52.51%.