The price of ternary cathode material has not yet hit bottom [SMM Weekly Review of Ternary Cathode Material Market]

This week, ternary cathode material prices continued to decline. On the raw material cost side, nickel sulphate and manganese sulphate prices showed relatively small fluctuations, cobalt sulphate prices experienced a slight decrease, while lithium chemicals prices still exhibited a relatively significant downward trend.

Demand side, the NEV market showed some recovery, with certain car models performing well in sales, and some models stockpiling in advance due to their upcoming launch, providing some support for ternary cathode material demand, but the overall quantity was relatively limited. The consumer and small power markets saw a relatively high number of recent orders, especially with strong overseas demand, but due to the relatively small size of the consumer market, the overall increase was not significant.

Supply side, current market supply mainly relies on previously signed long-term contracts, with some companies having raised the relevant discount coefficients and adopting a settlement method that negotiates discounts separately for raw materials such as nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and lithium carbonate. Recent market sentiment was relatively weak, with transactions mainly driven by essential stockpiling, but the month-end stockpiling peak is expected to arrive next week, and market activity is anticipated to increase in the near term.

Price trend side, nickel sulphate prices are expected to remain firm, but lithium chemicals still have downside room, and ternary cathode material prices, affected by raw material price fluctuations, may experience further declines.