It is optimistic that the price of lithium salt will continue to rise in the first quarter, and the production capacity of battery head enterprises will continue to climb [Agency Review]

Lithium salt prices rose unabated last week and are optimistic that they will continue to rise in the first quarter: in the first quarter, domestic mainstream lithium smelters are frequently overhauled, and the shortage of mineral supply has also restricted the production of lithium salt in the near future. On the demand side, due to the shortage of raw materials, enterprises passively reduce production, but the purchasing sentiment is still strong, and prices are expected to continue to rise. Domestic lithium carbonate prices continue to rise, mainstream enterprise transaction prices in 43 to 440000 yuan / ton, some small and medium-sized enterprises quoted upward to 45 to 470000 yuan / ton.

The quotation of precursors continues to rise, and lithium manganate manufacturers start work one after another after the festival. The quotation of ternary precursors for medium and low nickel models continues to be raised. The rise in international cobalt prices has driven the domestic market to follow the adjustment, the high matte project of the head enterprise has been put into production, the upward resistance of nickel price has increased, and the cost of medium and low nickel products has continued to rise; precursor enterprises are now mostly to deliver long orders for production arrangements. Affected by the rapid rise in the price of lithium carbonate of raw materials, lithium manganate enterprises raised their product quotations last week, and increased by a large margin. Most lithium manganate plants started last week, and the market supply resumed, but most of the downstream cell plants have not started operation, and the production line has not been resumed yet, because the price of lithium manganate has increased greatly, most of the downstream are mainly order inquiries, the actual transaction is less, and the market transaction atmosphere is light.

The production capacity of battery companies continues to grow, and battery prices follow the increase in costs. Head enterprise production capacity continues to climb. Car electrification has become an irreversible development trend, but lithium carbonate prices continue to jump up, continue to brush new highs, high lithium mine prices are more in line with the interests of miners, the slow pace of new production capacity, superimposed overseas unstable political situation, lithium ore prices are expected to remain high, pushing up battery prices. In January, domestic ternary batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries loaded 7.3 GWh and 8.9 GWh, lithium iron phosphate batteries respectively with a market share of 54.8%, exceeding ternary batteries for seven consecutive months.