SMM November 13:
Electrolyte prices remained relatively stable this week, with average prices for electrolyte for ternary power batteries, LFP, and LMO at 27,500 yuan/mt, 25,750 yuan/mt, and 20,250 yuan/mt, respectively. Cost side, tight supply of LiPF6, a core raw material for electrolyte, continued due to rising downstream demand. Meanwhile, key additives such as VC and FEC faced tightening market supply as demand increased and some enterprises underwent maintenance, prompting related raw material enterprises to raise quotations. Against this backdrop, some electrolyte enterprises had rigid restocking needs to ensure delivery of terminal orders and had to accept high-priced raw materials, further supporting upstream raw material price increases and directly driving up electrolyte production costs. However, there was a time lag in cost transmission to product prices, so electrolyte prices remained temporarily stable in the short term. Demand side, overall incremental demand from downstream battery cell manufacturers continued to drive overall electrolyte demand upward. Supply side, rising downstream demand continued to boost operating rates at electrolyte enterprises, but overall industry capacity release was constrained by both tight raw material supply and high prices, with core increments mainly coming from top-tier enterprises with stable raw material supply channels or existing upstream raw material layouts. Considering the supply-demand pattern and cost-side pressure, as cost pressure on electrolyte enterprises intensifies, electrolyte prices are expected to have further room to rise.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lü Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Xu Mengqi 021-20707868
Hu Xuejie 021-20707858
