This week, ternary cathode precursor prices continued to rise. Prices of nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and manganese sulphate kept rising, further pushing up precursor costs, and producer quotations also increased rapidly. Regarding discount coefficients, long-term agreement orders largely maintained previous levels; most producers have raised spot order discounts, but for customers with stable long-term cooperation and large order volumes, some cathode material enterprises can still secure discount conditions unchanged from August. With the latest changes to the cobalt export ban in the DRC expected to be announced soon, ternary cathode precursor prices are projected to continue rising next week.
Demand side, recent orders from major producers performed well, and the overall industry operating rate improved. In addition to sustained high downstream demand, pre-holiday stockpiling for National Day also boosted production growth to some extent. Production is expected to reach its annual peak this month, with the increase still mainly coming from the domestic EV market, while small power and consumer sectors showed relatively mediocre performance recently. After the concentrated stockpiling ends this month, market demand is expected to gradually pull back starting in October.
