[Energy Storage: General Motors And US Energy Storage Company Develop Sodium-Ion Battery Technology]

This week, the industry chain continued to show overall weakness and divergence. Refined cobalt was affected by the consumption off-season and summer break; mainstream smelters lowered quotes to 335,000 yuan/mt, and downstream users maintained only essential restocking. The buy-sell price spread for intermediate products widened, tenders continued to fail, and market trading nearly stalled. Cobalt sulphate, cobalt chloride, Co3O4 and cobalt powder all fell under pressure; low-priced material increased, and market prices gradually converged toward actual transaction and cost ranges, leaving the market still in a bottoming phase in the near term. Ternary cathode precursor prices slid as nickel and cobalt salts weakened; production schedules recovered at top-tier players, but small and mid-sized producers remained constrained by the off-season. Supported by the rebound in lithium chemicals, peak-season stockpiling and European auto sales, ternary cathode material prices edged up slightly, and August orders were steady to slightly higher. LCO demand recovery remained slow, and price cuts did not noticeably boost shipments. Industry side, Sinomine Resource Group's lithium sulfate project in Zimbabwe entered full-scale construction, Hithium secured a 421 MWh energy storage project in Australia, and cooperation in the charging industry continued to advance.

On August 10, the Zhijin Branch of the Bijie Ecological Environment Bureau in Guizhou Province released the first public notice for the environmental impact assessment of the "100,000 Tons/Year Sodium-Ion Battery Cathode Material Production Base Project (Phase I, Stage 1)." The project is located in the Zhijin Economic Development Zone (Anle Community, Chadian Township), Bijie City, Guizhou Province, with the construction entity being Guizhou Nabang New Energy Co., Ltd. The total investment for Phase I, Stage 1, is 108.3844 million yuan. The construction involves renting a factory building to build a new sodium battery plant (including a finished goods warehouse), along with supporting facilities for electrical systems, instrumentation, water supply and drainage, fire protection, and information technology. Upon completion, the project will have an annual production capacity of 5,500 tons of sodium-ion battery cathode materials (of the polyanionic type).

This week, the industry chain as a whole remained in the doldrums. In the traditional consumption off-season, end-use demand recovery was limited, and market transactions were generally sluggish. Electrolytic products continued to grind lower, affected by loosening overseas quotes and weakening domestic salts and intermediate product prices, leading to rising bearish sentiment. The divergence between miners holding intermediate product prices firm and downstream pushing for lower prices widened, hindering actual transactions. The sulphate, chloride, tetroxide, and powder markets all faced insufficient demand and inventory pressure, with some low-priced supply increasing, keeping short-term prices under pressure. Ternary cathode precursor prices were temporarily stable; top-tier player production load recovered somewhat, and export orders performed well. Ternary cathode material prices rebounded slightly, with EV market orders in August stable and growing, but the consumer market improvement remained insignificant. LCO supply and demand remained mediocre, with prices still likely to decline. On the policy front, multiple regions continued to optimize auto consumption subsidies, the catalogue of vehicle models eligible for vehicle and vessel tax exemptions expanded, and end-use consumption stimulus policies continued to advance.