SMM Weekly Roundup of Lithium Battery Industry Chain

SHANGHAI, Oct 24 (SMM) -

Lithium

Last week, the prices of lithium carbonate continued to rise. Smelters basically maintained normal operations, and those who were shut down two weeks ago due to maintenance have also returned to normal production. Market quotations were still in an upswing. Increased downstream production and purchases shored up the transaction prices. Downstream demand was mainly driven by LFP and NMC cathode materials, while the demand from LCO plants was relatively weak. The lithium salt market is expected to maintain a supply deficit. 

The prices of lithium hydroxide rose slightly last week. The export market remained robust as the overseas prices were higher than the domestic ones. The supply of lithium hydroxide was tighter than that of lithium carbonate. Concentrated procurement was reported towards the end of the month.

Cobalt

Recently, the ex-factory prices of refined cobalt enterprises have been relatively stable, while prices in the futures market showed signs of falling back. Market transactions were sluggish, and some traders began to lower their quotations. With the end of the South African port strike, the impact on the domestic refined cobalt market has diminished.

Cobalt sulphate prices were stable due to cost support from cobalt intermediate products and battery scrap, but failed to rise amid weak demand. Market quotations were between 63,000-64,000 yuan/mt, while transaction prices were 62,000-63,000 yuan/mt.

NMC cathode materials

The prices of NMC cathode materials changed little last week. Demand from the power battery sector maintained steady growth, while that from e-bike and electronics markets remained weak. However, driven by steadily climbing raw material prices and production ramp-up by electronics battery makers, the purchasing activity in the NMC cathode material market has picked up slightly. The prices of NMC cathode materials are expected to follow lithium and nickel salt prices up further this week.

Downstream and end-use markets

The top 15 companies dominated 85% of the Chinese NEV market share by selling a combined 438,000 vehicles in September based on the Compulsory Traffic Accident Liability Insurance for Motor Vehicles, an increase of 13% month-on-month and 63% year-on-year. BYD’s sales hit a new record high of 167,000 units, making it the top seller and grabbing 32% of the market share. The figure was up 7% month-on-month and 177% year-on-year. BYD has stopped producing gasoline vehicles from March this year, boosting its capacity of new energy vehicles (NEVs). Meanwhile, its diverse car models have greatly catered to the domestic buyers. Thanks to the capacity ramp-up of its Shanghai Gigafactory, Tesla's sales surged 116% MoM and 48% YoY to 77,000 units. The sales of NEV start-ups represented by NIO, LiAuto and Xiaopeng have also grown steadily. For example, NIO ranked ninth with sales of 11,000 units, an increase of 2% month-on-month and 4% year-on-year.

News

EU considers listing lithium as a hazardous substance, but the world's largest lithium producer rules out the possibility of leaving European market

Kent Masters, chief executive of Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer, said on Wednesday (October 19) local time that if the EU was to classify lithium as a hazardous substance, the company's costs would be increased, but he stressed that Albemarle did not intend to leave Europe. Lithium is an important commodity for meeting global carbon reduction target as it plays a critical role in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries. It has been listed on EU's list of key raw materials since 2020.

Mercedes Benz and Rock Tech Lithium strike a deal on lithium supply

On October 20, Mercedes-Benz Group said it had signed a raw material supply agreement with Canadian lithium material supplier Rock Tech Lithium Inc. According to Rock Tech Lithium, the deal is valued at approximately $1.47 billion. Mercedes-Benz said Rock Tech Lithium, under the agreement, has to supply it with 10,000 mt of battery-grade lithium hydroxide per year, which will be enough to produce around 150,000 electric vehicles.

EVE Energy plans to achieve a power energy storage capacity of 100 GWh by 2025

EVE Energy has unveiled its new generation of energy storage battery LF560K. The LF560K battery adopts the ultra-large battery CTT (Cell to TWh) technology, which is an innovative battery cell technology for TWh-level energy storage and can reduce the cost of cells and system levels. The LF560K battery is expected to start global delivery in the second quarter of 2024. EVE Energy plans to achieve a power energy storage capacity of 100 GWh by 2025.