This week, in the ternary cathode precursor market, prices of 5-series products slightly decreased, while prices of 6-series and 8-series products remained stable.
In terms of raw material costs, nickel sulphate prices held steady, while cobalt sulphate and manganese sulphate prices slightly declined, driving down the prices of medium- and low-nickel products.
Demand side, the overall performance of the large power-type precursor market was mediocre. Despite some order transfers among manufacturers, there was no significant increase in overall demand, which was still mainly supported by existing projects. Orders for small power and consumer precursors have recently increased, primarily influenced by the rise in cobalt prices, prompting some downstream material plants to choose to stockpile in advance. However, the actual increase in demand was limited.
Supply side, affected by market fluctuations this year, producers of power-type precursors generally no longer signed long-term contracts (such as six-month or one-year contracts), instead opting for transactions with monthly discount negotiations. Some companies have increased the discount coefficients for long-term contracts, but downstream customers have shown low acceptance of the adjusted prices. Consumer precursors are still mainly shipped via spot orders. Since April, discount coefficients have remained largely stable. Currently, precursor companies and downstream material plants are still in a price negotiation phase.
Looking ahead to next week, it is expected that nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices will continue to rise mildly. Driven by raw material costs, ternary cathode precursor prices may have a slight upside room.
SMM New Energy Industry Research Department
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lv Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Zhang Haohan 021-51666752
Wang Zihan 021-51666914
Wang Jie 021-51595902
Xu Yang 021-51666760
Chen Bolin 021-51666836
Yang Le 021-51595898
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