This week, ternary cathode material prices continued to decline. In terms of raw materials, the prices of nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, manganese sulphate, lithium carbonate, and lithium hydroxide all showed varying degrees of decline, but the drop in lithium chemicals slowed down.
Demand side, the NEV market remained stable. Although some automakers performed well in sales, providing some support for ternary cathode materials, the incremental demand was limited. The traditional peak season for the consumer market has not yet started. Although some producers stockpiled in advance due to rising cobalt prices, the overall demand growth remained limited.
Supply side, the current market supply mainly relies on previously signed long-term contracts, and some companies have raised the relevant discount coefficients. In spot order transactions, manufacturers generally adopted a settlement method of negotiating discounts separately for raw materials such as nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and lithium carbonate. The discount coefficients for spot order quotations were raised, but downstream acceptance was low. Recently, market sentiment has been weak, mainly affected by the continuous decline in lithium carbonate prices. The market remains pessimistic about its future, leading to a weak willingness to sell among ternary cathode material producers. In addition, downstream battery manufacturers have already completed some stockpiling, resulting in low purchase intentions in the short term.
In terms of price trends, raw material prices are expected to show a gradual decline. Ternary cathode material prices, influenced by raw material price fluctuations, may further decline.
SMM New Energy Industry Research Department
Cong Wang 021-51666838
Rui Ma 021-51595780
Disheng Feng 021-51666714
Yanlin Lyu 021-20707875
Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711
Haohan Zhang 021-51666752
Zihan Wang 021-51666914
Jie Wang 021-51595902
Yang Xu 021-51666760
Bolin Chen 021-51666836
Le Yang 021-51595898
