Annual Review of Three-Element Material Enterprises: Production Declines, Price Fluctuations in 2023

[Review of the Annual Reports of the Three-Element Industry Chain Enterprises: How Did the Three-Element Material Enterprises Fare in 2023?] In 2023, SMM statistics showed that China's production of three-element materials was 620,000 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 5% compared to 2022, and the capacity utilization rate was around 40%. Looking back at the changes in annual production throughout 2023, "the industry chain destocking" and "the terminal share being squeezed out by iron lithium materials" were the two main reasons.

In terms of material prices, taking the price of three-element material 523 (polycrystalline/consumer type) as an example, material price fluctuations under the condition of overcapacity in the three-element material industry are mainly affected by the cost end, namely the prices of three-element precursors and lithium carbonate. In 2023, the price of three-element precursors continued to decline due to the downward cycle of nickel and cobalt prices and the oversupply of three-element precursors. The average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fell from 510,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year to SMM's quoted price of 166,000 yuan/ton at the end of the year, with the price trend of three-element materials following the same trend as the raw material prices.