According to a report by Reuters cited in MiningWeekly, a study released by the Cobalt Institute on Wednesday forecasts that cobalt demand will grow faster than supply, easing the cobalt surplus situation in 2024 and shifting to a deficit in the early 2030s. The report was compiled by Benchmark Minerals Intelligence. In the short term, the future of the cobalt market will depend on developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the world's largest cobalt producer. At the end of February, the country decided to implement a four-month temporary export ban. Cobalt is a crucial material for the production of lithium batteries used in electric vehicles (EVs).

[SMM Weekly Review of Co3O4 Market: Spot Price of Co3O4 Continues to Decline] This week, the price of Co3O4 continued to decline. Despite the high cost of raw materials due to the export ban in the Congo, excessive domestic inventory has also suppressed the upward momentum of prices, with spot quotes remaining weak. There has been no significant improvement in downstream demand, and most LCO enterprises are still purchasing as needed. The market inquiry atmosphere is sluggish, with a decrease in effective transaction orders, and the overall market is in a wait-and-see phase. The industry is generally waiting for further news to stimulate the market, and it is expected that the spot price of Co3O4 will continue to decline in the short term.

[SMM Weekly Review of Cobalt Chloride Market: Spot Price of Cobalt Chloride Declines Slightly] This week, the price of cobalt chloride declined slightly. Supply side, due to unresolved issues with the transportation cycle of overseas cobalt raw materials, smelters remained cautious in their pricing, with almost no instances of selling at low prices. Demand side, downstream Co3O4 enterprises slowed down their procurement pace, with fewer market inquiries, and spot transactions were mainly for small-batch rigid demand. It is expected that the peak sales season for new energy vehicles (NEVs) in Q3 may drive a rebound in downstream enterprises' restocking demand, and the cobalt chloride market may continue to fluctuate at highs. Industry insiders maintain a strong wait-and-see attitude towards cost transmission and policy expectations.

[This week's separator prices remained stable] SMM reported on May 15: This week, the prices of lithium battery separator materials remained stable, with mainstream quotations for wet-process separators of 5um/7um/9um being 1.59 yuan, 0.82 yuan, and 0.75 yuan, respectively...

[SMM Weekly Review of Lithium Electrolyte Market: Electrolyte Prices Remained Stable This Week (2025.5.12-5.15)] From May 12 to May 15, 2025, electrolyte prices remained stable. Considering that it is difficult to achieve substantial improvement in the supply-demand relationship in the short term, the lack of strong stimulating factors in the industry, and the downward trend in raw material prices, it is expected that electrolyte prices will continue to fluctuate rangebound in the coming period.

[LCO prices slightly declined due to raw material influence] This week, the mainstream quotations for 4.2V/4.4V/4.5V LCO in the market were 219,000 yuan/mt, 224,000 yuan/mt, and 235,000 yuan/mt, respectively. On the raw material side...

Recently, the domestic lithium chemicals market has accelerated its decline, with the price center of lithium carbonate continuing to fall. The most-traded lithium carbonate futures contract hit a record low of 62,560 yuan/mt since its listing. This week, lithium carbonate futures prices stabilized and rebounded. As of the close on May 14, the most-traded contract was reported at 65,200 yuan/mt, up 3%. Zhang Weixin, an analyst at China Securities Futures, believes that the current lithium carbonate market is still facing oversupply. Yang Fei, a senior researcher in the Non-Ferrous Metals and New Materials Team at CITIC Futures, stated that the recent stabilization of lithium carbonate futures prices is mainly due to substantive progress made in high-level economic and trade talks between China and the US, which has warmed market sentiment. Although China's lithium carbonate exports to the US are extremely low, the US is China's largest export market for ESS batteries. The mutual cancellation of hefty tariffs between China and the US indirectly benefits the lithium industry chain.