Post-Holiday Motive Battery Demand Stays Weak in China

SHANGHAI, Feb. 18 (SMM) – Overall demand in Chinese motive battery market is sluggish after the 2016 Chinese New Year holiday, which was in sharp contrast with rocketing demand following the 2015 Chinese New Year holiday.

Traditionally, battery replacement will quicken after Chinese New Year holiday, contributed by students and workers due to school opens and operation restart at factories. But 2016 witnesses cool demand. Should demand fail to pick up after Chinese Lantern Festival due on February 22, post-holiday demand in 2016 will underperform past years.  

Most distributors completed stock building before holiday. After the weeklong holiday, downstream retailers continue digesting stocks built before holiday with soft demand in market. Some distributors even planned to prolong their holidays to after February 22-23 and planned no purchase in near term.

Poor end-user consumption led to limited orders at battery makers before holiday, growing inventories. Besides, some battery producers hoarded pre-holiday stocks due to expectation for post-holiday growth in downstream demand. This piled inventories up to over 1 month at some producers. 

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