[SMM New Energy] Qinghai Salt Lake Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences: Major Breakthrough in Lithium Extraction and Separation Technology from Salt Lakes

[SMM Analysis] This week, the energy storage battery cell market remained stable overall. The pullback in lithium chemical prices has not yet significantly transmitted to the battery cell side, and only some orders adopting a raw material linkage mechanism saw slight downward adjustments. The average price of 314 Ah battery cells remained around 0.365 Yuan/Wh. As the implementation details of the battery consumption tax have not yet been released, most battery cell enterprises have not yet uniformly raised prices. The additional tax costs may be shared through negotiation between upstream and downstream players in the industry chain. In terms of product structure, in H1, shipments of large-capacity battery cells above 500 Ah reached approximately 42 GWh, accounting for 8.6%. The market is still dominated by deliveries of 314 Ah products. As large battery cell capacity is gradually released in H2, the shipment share of these cells is expected to increase to around 15%.

The cobalt powder market remained weak this week, and actual transactions stayed thin. On the supply side, mainstream producers kept their offers within RMB 440,000‑460,000 per tonne, while some physical deal prices have dipped to RMB 430,000‑440,000 per tonne. More low‑price offers emerged among traders, further depressing market psychological price levels. Cobalt carbonate, the raw material, remained under price pressure. Some offers have fallen below RMB 200,000 per tonne. Market trading nearly stalled with no valid transaction references available. Downstream cemented carbide enterprises are constrained by end‑user orders, showing no acceleration in raw‑material consumption and maintaining slow purchasing rhythms. Apart from long‑term contract orders, spot‑deal volumes are relatively limited. In terms of market sentiment, most participants adopt a wait‑and‑see stance, generally believing that no notable market improvement will materialize in the short term.