[SMM Analysis] This Week's Spot Price of LCO Soars, Further Price Increases Are Still Expected

Published: Mar 6, 2025 15:28

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[Spot Prices of LCO Soared This Week, With Further Price Increases Expected] This week, LCO prices saw a significant surge, with the latest prices for 4.2V/4.4V/4.5V LCO at 152,000/156,000/166,000 yuan/mt, respectively. The average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate declined this week, primarily due to increased operating rates at lithium chemical enterprises combined with weak end-use demand, leaving the market's loose supply and demand dynamics unchanged. Affected by the ongoing impact of the DRC government's suspension of cobalt concentrate exports, Co3O4 quotations soared this week, and short-term cobalt salt prices are still expected to rise.

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This week, LCO prices saw a significant increase, with the latest prices for 4.2V/4.4V/4.5V LCO at 152,000/156,000/166,000 yuan/mt, respectively. The average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate declined this week, mainly due to increased operating rates of lithium chemical producers combined with weak end-use demand, leaving the market's loose supply and demand structure unchanged. Affected by the ongoing impact of the DRC government's suspension of cobalt concentrate exports, Co3O4 prices surged this week, and short-term cobalt salt prices are still expected to rise. The cost drag from lithium carbonate and the cost support from Co3O4 offset each other, but the risk premium for cobalt resource supply has risen, and the cost center of LCO raw materials is expected to continue moving upward. Orders from mainstream smartphone and laptop producers remained stable in Q1, with downstream LCO procurement driven mainly by rigid demand. However, top-tier battery enterprises indicated that a stockpiling cycle for new tablet and wearable device models might emerge in late March, with marginal improvement in demand expected.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Ying Xu 021-51666707

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yujun Liu 021-20707895

Yanlin Lü 021-20707875

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711

Haohan Zhang 021-51666752

Zihan Wang 021-51666914

Xiaoxuan Ren 021-20707866

Yushuo Liang 021-20707892

Jie Wang 021-51595902

Yang Xu 021-51666760

Lianting Yang 021-51595835

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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