Sharp Output Cuts Led to Lithium Ore Shortages, High Import Prices Drove Lithium Salt Producers to Shut Down

Aug 7 News: At north China ports, manganese ore prices declined WoW across all grades: 46% Australian lumps (40-40.5 yuan/mtu), South African semi-carbonate (32.7-33.2 yuan/mtu), Gabonese ore (37.8-38.2 yuan/mtu), South African high-iron ore (28.5-29 yuan/mtu), and South African medium-iron ore (35-35.5 yuan/mtu). At south China ports, manganese ore prices were mixed WoW: 46% Australian lumps (42.9-43.4 yuan/mtu) remained flat, South African semi-carbonate (36.3-36.8 yuan/mtu) declined, Gabonese ore (40.6-41.1 yuan/mtu) declined, South African high-iron ore (31.2-31.7 yuan/mtu) declined, and South African medium-iron ore (38-38.5 yuan/mtu) remained flat. Manganese ore market prices are grinding lower, end-use demand is sluggish, and traders are commonly cutting prices to sell.

[Hithium's World's First Integrated Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Industrial Park Starts Production] Hithium's Shandong integrated long duration energy storage (LDES) industrial park started production in Heze Luxi New District. This industrial park is the world's first integrated industrial park focusing on long duration energy storage (LDES), with a total investment exceeding 13 billion yuan. After reaching full production, it will have an annual capacity of 30 GWh of 1175Ah long duration energy storage battery cells and 20 GWh of 6.25MWh systems. Hithium stated that, leveraging its large-scale capacity, the company will drive the global lithium battery long duration energy storage sector into an era of large-scale delivery.

This week, industry chain prices diverged. Lithium ore edged down alongside lithium carbonate, but mines continued to hold prices firm, making profit distribution across the industry chain a market focus. Supported by maintenance and tight spot order supply, lithium carbonate prices consolidated on a subdued note, while lithium hydroxide prices initially fell before rebounding. The cobalt industry chain remained generally under pressure—with weakening overseas quotations and sluggish off-season demand, refined cobalt, intermediate products, and cobalt salt prices continued to weaken, and the price spread between buyers and sellers widened. Nickel sulphate edged down, with the market still primarily focused on destocking; ternary cathode precursor prices declined due to weaker nickel and cobalt salt prices, while ternary cathode material prices remained basically stable. LFP prices proved resilient, supported by rising processing fees, with August production schedules continuing to grow and high-quality capacity remaining tight. Artificial graphite prices rose, the supply-demand balance for separators stayed in tight balance, and electrolyte prices were pushed up by raw material cost transmission. Supply of key materials for sodium-ion batteries remained tight, while recycling-side transactions were subdued. On the terminal side, EV and ESS demand maintained resilience, though the consumer market recovery remained limited. Looking ahead, the focus will be on peak season stockpiling and demand realization.