A Glance of China Lithium-ion Battery Materials Week 1, Apr 2023
▼ Nickel sulfate prices may continue to decline modestly in the immediate future.
The demand for the ternary industry chain is declining, resulting in a significant drop in demand for nickel sulfate. As a result, companies are proactively reducing prices, with some offering prices around 95% of the original price. Some companies have begun to reduce or stop production when raw material is oversupplied in the context of poor demand. The excess production capacity of integrated enterprises will significantly affect the production of compound producers. Therefore, nickel sulfate prices are expected to accelerate their decline.
▼ There will likely be a downward trend in cobalt sulfate prices during the bargaining between buyers and sellers.
The demand for cobalt sulfate remains weak, with the downstream mainly fulfilling the standing contracts. Downstream companies attempted to pressure prices, causing smelters to adjust prices to align with the market. Moreover, a few traders are experiencing financial pressure, which causes low-price quotes to increase and dragged down cobalt prices.
▼ Lithium compounds prices are expected to keep decreasing in the short term.
Currently, the market players are fence-sitting, with fewer bulk orders for lithium compounds, mostly based on rigid demand. Holders show a clear intention to lower prices, and some lithium compound factories are forced to sell at a lower profit margin. Carbonate prices have fallen more significantly than hydroxide prices.
-- Ternary precursor prices may remain stable in the coming week.
The demand for ternary precursors continues to decline, resulting in the demand for raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese falling, as well as their prices. Leading nickel and cobalt producers are selling products at a discount, which in turn causes a decline in the prices of ternary precursors, and leads to small and medium-sized enterprises having a smaller price advantage. It is unlikely to see a significant improvement in market demand in the short term, and prices are expected to further decline.
-- Ternary cathode material prices may stop falling and stabilize in the coming days.
The demand for raw materials has significantly declined against high-level inventory in the industrial chain of new energy vehicles and ternary cells, leading to a significant decline in lithium compound prices, which drives the continuous decrease of ternary cathode material prices. Currently, most enterprises are purchasing lithium compounds on spot orders, with few term contracts. The expected rapid decline of lithium compound prices will further drive the continued decline of ternary cathode material prices.
▼ Lithium iron phosphate prices are likely to drop in the short term.
The downstream demand for lithium iron phosphate remains lackluster, resulting in a low overall operating rate. New lithium iron companies face longer sample delivery times and certification periods, as well as significant pressure from the billing cycles of major battery cell manufacturers. Even established material factories have difficulty obtaining new orders when large energy storage projects take too long to materialize, providing insufficient short-term support. The energy storage industry must wait for a concentrated market breakout. Lithium iron phosphate processing profits have significantly declined as the market price of lithium iron phosphate continued to decrease last week. With lithium compound prices continuing to decline, battery cell manufacturers are squeezing upstream lithium iron cathode material procurement prices, and it is expected that the profits of lithium iron will continue to be reduced.
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