This week, the price of ternary cathode precursors continued to rise slightly. From the cost side of raw materials, the prices of nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate continued to increase, while the price of manganese sulphate remained stable. Considering the expectation of further price increases for nickel salts and cobalt salts in the future, it is anticipated that the price of precursors will continue to maintain an upward trend. Currently, the discount coefficients agreed upon between precursor producers and downstream cathode plants have not been adjusted. However, if the supply of nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate tightens in the future, there is a possibility of an increase in the discount coefficients for spot orders.
On the supply and demand side, the production of ternary cathode precursors in July recovered compared to June, and an even more significant growth rate is expected in August. The increase in production is mainly attributed to the following factors: Firstly, producers focused on destocking in June due to the semi-annual period, and entered a phase of restocking in July; Secondly, in anticipation of the traditional "September-October peak season" in the automotive market, precursor producers began to stockpile in advance; Thirdly, the market's bullish outlook on the prices of nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prompted some downstream cathode producers to choose to stockpile in advance, resulting in a front-load orders effect.
It is worth noting that orders in the domestic ternary NEV market are highly concentrated. Some producers facing development challenges have turned to the consumer market for breakthroughs, but the consumer market has limited capacity and equally fierce competition. Overall, a cautious outlook is maintained for the performance of the ternary cathode precursor market this year.
