LCO: Raw Material Cost Transmission and Battery Cell Stockpiling Drive Price Increases, Inventory Buffer Suppresses Urgent Order Demand

In the LCO sector, most enterprises have successively begun offering prices, with the transaction price for conventional models reaching 350,000 yuan/mt. This round of price increases is primarily driven by cost transmission from upstream cobalt chloride and Co3O4, as well as stockpiling by battery cell enterprises. Earlier, influenced by the DRC's quota policy, panic sentiment intensified downstream, pushing prices up rapidly; currently, market sentiment is gradually returning to rationality, and prices are tending to stabilize. At present, inventory levels at cathode material and battery cell enterprises are relatively sufficient, providing a certain buffer against the rapid rise in raw material prices and also suppressing short-term urgent restocking demand to some extent. LCO prices are expected to remain firm in the near term and still have room for further increases.

Cong Wang, 021-51666838

Rui Ma, 021-51595780

Disheng Feng, 021-51666714

Yanlin Lü, 021-20707875

Zhicheng Zhou, 021-51666711

Haohan Zhang, 021-51666752

Zihan Wang, 021-51666914

Jie Wang, 021-51595902

Yang Xu, 021-51666760

Lianting Yang, 021-51595835

Zhaoyu Wang, 021-51666827