【SMM Analysis】Weekly Update on Cascaded Use Market: Stability Amidst Cautious Sentiment

This week's market feedback indicates that while lithium carbonate prices have remained stable, recycling enterprises generally maintain a cautious attitude towards lithium salt prices due to previous fluctuations. Subsequently, the Democratic Republic of Congo adjusted its cobalt export policy. This change directly pushed cobalt prices upward, which in turn drove prices for spent ternary and lithium iron phosphate cells higher. This bullish sentiment further transmitted to the cascaded use market, intensifying inventory holding behavior among suppliers. On the demand side, companies widely believe that current cascaded use prices are already near their psychological upper limit. With a continued standoff between supply and demand, cascaded use market prices have temporarily remained stable.

Overall, it is anticipated that the potential for significant price increases for cascaded use cells remains limited in the future. On one hand, the market lacks a core driver to support substantial price hikes. On the other hand, although driven by demand-side factors, market prices are still expected to experience some minor, low-magnitude increases. However, as companies are currently generally operating at low speeds with procurement primarily focused on rigid demand, based on this operational status quo, the cascaded use and recycling market is expected to maintain a relatively stable operating trend.