At end-September 2026, China's electrolyte market prices edged up, mainly due to the gradual lagged pass-through of earlier raw material price increases. Cost side, LiPF6 futures remained stable, and trading activity turned sluggish ahead of the National Day holiday; coupled with the continued pullback in upstream lithium carbonate prices, cost support for lithium chemicals weakened further. Although overall supply-demand conditions remained relatively tight, supporting producers' price hikes, the market was dominated by rigid demand, with limited spot order transactions, keeping LiPF6 prices temporarily stable. The additive VC continued to face a tight supply-demand situation, but with industry profitability at a relatively high level, mainstream enterprises showed limited willingness to proactively push prices higher out of long-term business considerations, and quotes remained stable. In the solvent segment, upstream raw material prices fluctuated little recently, with battery-grade EC prices rising on the back of recovering downstream battery cell demand.
Overall, electrolyte prices exhibit a lagged cost pass-through characteristic, with earlier raw material price increases gradually reflected in finished electrolyte prices at end-September. Looking ahead, as the traditional September-October peak season continues to advance, downstream power battery and energy storage battery cell demand is expected to sustain its recovery, driving steady improvement in electrolyte operating rates and production, and providing demand support for upstream raw materials; combined with the ongoing lagged cost pass-through effect, electrolyte market prices still have some upside.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lyu Yanlin 021-20707875
Xu Mengqi 021-20707868
Hu Xuejie 021-20707858
Chen Bolin 021-51666836
Wang Yizhou 021-51595909
