Polaris ESS Network learned that recently, the EPC tenders for two shared ESS projects in Yunnan were opened, with a total scale of 350MW/700MWh and an average quoted price of approximately 0.758 yuan/Wh. Among them, Yunnan Institute of China Energy Engineering Group won the EPC bid for the 150MW/300MWh ESS power station of China Energy Investment Corporation in Binglie, Wenshan City, at a price of 0.7627 yuan/Wh, while Shanghai Institute of PowerChina won the EPC bid for the 200MW/400MWh shared ESS project of Shenzhen Energy Group in Jinghong, at a price of 0.7505 yuan/Wh.

Based on the analysis of major institutions, both futures and spot prices of lithium carbonate have been declining. The core imbalance lies in the inertia of supply expansion and the deceleration of demand growth. The slow digestion of inventory will limit the upside room for lithium carbonate prices, which are expected to fluctuate within the range of 65,000-75,000 yuan/mt this year.

To promote the steady progress of the battery separator industry along a path of healthy and high-quality development, Shenzhen Senior Technology Material, Bosun New Material, Huiqiang New Material, Zhongxingxin New Material, and three other separator enterprises have responded promptly, issuing statements to help the separator industry transition from a price war to a value war.

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[SMM Analysis: A Review of This Week's Cascade Price Trends] This week, prices in the cascade utilization market dropped slightly overall, but the decline was limited, with the market primarily adopting a wait-and-see attitude. Affected by global tariff policies, the demand for overseas export projects has been impacted to some extent. However, due to the relatively low market share of the US battery cell market, the overall prices of battery cells and lithium chemicals have remained stable. Nevertheless, due to the pessimistic outlook for the future prices of lithium chemicals, cascade utilization enterprises have not rushed to make purchases at this time, instead adopting a wait-and-see attitude and making just-in-time procurement. Meanwhile, upstream battery cell manufacturers and traders have maintained their quotes, resulting in the overall stability of prices in the cascade B-grade market this week. In terms of supply, although battery cell production has been somewhat affected by exports, there have been no significant fluctuations. Domestic battery replacement projects and other activities are proceeding normally, and the supply of waste battery cells for cascade utilization remains sufficient relative to demand. On the demand side, as cascade utilization enterprises primarily target the domestic market, their production plans remain generally stable, with no significant changes in downstream demand. The overall supply-demand pattern remains unchanged. In the short term, some cascade utilization producers, anticipating further price declines, continue to focus on just-in-time procurement. Prices are expected to remain stable or experience a slight decline.

[SMM Analysis] A Review of This Week's Price Trends for Scrap Spot Cargo (April 28-30, 2025) Lithium Chemicals Side: This week, the prices of lithium chemicals mainly declined slightly, while the prices of salt products such as nickel salt and cobalt salt remained basically stable. This week, the coefficients for ternary and LCO black mass began to drop slightly. Taking ternary black mass as an example: Currently, the coefficient for ternary pole piece black mass is 75-77%, and for ternary battery black mass, it is 72-74%. On the supply side, the psychological selling prices of grinding mills and traders decreased with the decline in salt prices. However, some grinding mills still chose to hold back from selling due to their current profits being below the surplus line, opting to wait for market conditions to improve. Overall, market transactions in April were sluggish compared to March. On the demand side, most hydrometallurgy plants only made just-in-time procurement of black mass amid the continuous decline in nickel, cobalt, and lithium salt prices. Additionally, due to the market's pessimistic outlook on subsequent lithium salt prices, they only maintained a safety stock of raw materials for about one month. Cost side, currently, except for leading integrated hydrometallurgy plants, the profits of most hydrometallurgy plants remain below the surplus line. While the profits of grinding mills are slightly better than those of hydrometallurgy plants, the recent decline in copper cathode prices has led to a continuous inversion in grinding mill profits.