In January 2026, the electrolyte market showed a pattern of synchronized contraction on both supply and demand sides, with prices rising slightly, mainly influenced by weakening end-use demand and lagged transmission of raw material costs.
In terms of production, the electrolyte market in January exhibited a trend of synchronized contraction on both supply and demand sides. Demand side, although orders in the ESS sector continued to maintain robust levels, coupled with some newly added capacity gradually ramping up, leading to a slight increase in energy storage battery cell production; however, the NEV market saw a significant decline in overall sales due to the policy of halving the purchase tax, which led to an advance consumption of NEV demand, thus suppressing the demand for power batteries, resulting in a certain degree of decline in production. Affected by the drag from the power battery segment, the overall demand in the electrolyte market weakened. Supply side, electrolyte enterprises generally followed the strategy of "produce based on sales." Directly impacted by the reduction in orders from downstream battery cell manufacturers, the industry's operating rate was also adjusted downward, leading to a decrease in electrolyte production.
Regarding prices, in January, the overall price of electrolytes rose slightly, mainly due to the lagged transmission effect of raw material costs. In January, affected by the weakening of downstream end-use demand, the prices of upstream raw materials for electrolytes continued to decline, and the continuous drop in raw material prices further suppressed the purchasing willingness of electrolyte enterprises, with many prioritizing the consumption of existing inventory, while those without inventory only restocked based on essential needs. Meanwhile, traders in the market chose to lower prices to expedite cash recovery, further weakening the market prices of raw materials. However, due to the time lag in cost transmission, the price of raw materials used by electrolyte enterprises for order production this month remained at a high level, coupled with insufficient cost transmission for some previous orders, causing some orders to fall into a loss-making state. Therefore, the price of electrolytes did not decline in tandem with the current downward trend in raw material costs but instead made a slight upward adjustment to recover some profits, ultimately resulting in a slight rise in prices.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lv Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Xu Mengqi 021-20707868
Hu Xuejie 021-20707858
Chen Bolin 021-51666836
Wang Yizhou 021-51595909
