Increasing Cost Pressure Weighs on Lithium Manganate Market Ahead of Spring Festival

In late January 2026, China’s domestic lithium manganate market has fallen into a dilemma characterized by strong cost-side pressure and weak demand-side performance. The price of lithium carbonate, a core raw material, has kept fluctuating upward since the beginning of the month, directly driving up the production cost of lithium manganate. Meanwhile, downstream demand has been muted, and the market’s capacity to absorb cost increases remains insufficient, failing to digest the pressure from cost transmission.Amid the interplay of bullish and bearish factors, lithium manganate prices have stayed in a weak and stable pattern, under persistent operational pressure.

Producers of lithium manganate are currently confronted with mounting cost pressure, mainly stemming from the continuous rise in upstream lithium carbonate prices. Coupled with fluctuations in the costs of other auxiliary materials, overall production costs have climbed sharply.As cost pressure keeps transmitting downstream, the demand side of lithium manganate has failed to provide effective support. Demand across all application sectors has generally been lackluster, and the overall market absorption capacity is inadequate, further constraining the upward potential of the lithium manganate market.

As the largest downstream consumer of lithium manganate, the power battery sector has seen subdued demand recently. Affected by the slowing growth of terminal consumption in the new energy vehicle market, most downstream enterprises are focused on digesting existing inventories, showing low enthusiasm for purchasing lithium manganate.Industries including electric two-wheelers and small digital products have entered a traditional off-season for demand. Downstream manufacturers hold weak willingness to stock up, and their procurement of lithium manganate is mostly limited to small batches and urgent orders, resulting in restricted overall purchase volumes.Notably, as the Spring Festival approaches, there has been no obvious pre-holiday stockpiling wave in the downstream market. Most enterprises maintain a cautious wait-and-see attitude, and market transactions are dominated by procurement on an as-needed basis.

In summary, the lithium manganate market is currently constrained by the dual pressures of escalating costs and sluggish demand absorption, with a lack of favorable factors in the short term. The market is expected to remain under weak pressure ahead of the Spring Festival, with insufficient momentum for either a sharp rise or a sharp decline in prices.In the long run, with the expansion of lithium manganate applications in the field of cost-effective lithium battery materials, combined with the sustained development of the new energy vehicle and energy storage industries, demand for lithium manganate is expected to recover gradually.