A Glance of China Lithium-ion Battery Materials Week 2, Apr 2023
▼ Nickel sulfate prices may continue to ease over the next week.
The demand for nickel sulfate has decreased due to the lack of improvement in demand for ternary precursor materials and a relatively high degree of integrated production, leading to some companies reducing or halting production. The availability of raw materials is abundant with some companies placing their goods in bonded warehouses, and the prices of nickel intermediate products are expected to decrease, resulting in a further decline in the price of nickel sulfate.
▼ Cobalt sulfate prices are anticipated to keep trending down in the short term.
The price of cobalt sulfate continues to rise in the international market, but this trend has not had a significant impact on the domestic spot market. With reduced production in the power battery market, downstream companies decrease raw material procurement, resulting in fewer market activities. Coupled with rumors of low-price transactions at RMB 37,000/tonne in the domestic market, buyers tend to keep lowering their purchase prices.
▼ Lithium compounds prices are expected to soften in the near term.
The lithium compound market remains weak in demand and high in inventory; therefore, downstream companies mainly make purchases on rigid demand. The continuous decline in lithium prices resulted in upstream lithium compound producers reducing or halting production to alleviate inventory pressures, especially in Jiangxi Province, which may cause the price of lithium compounds to remain weak.
▼ Ternary precursor prices are likely to fall in the coming week.
The demand for ternary precursors remains weak, leading to companies cutting production. Besides, the external procurement of nickel and cobalt compounds has decreased with some companies able to produce by themselves. The decline in raw material prices and lowered shipment of some companies cause the price of ternary precursor materials to fall, coupled with a pessimistic market outlook for the second quarter.
▼The decline in ternary cathode material prices is expected to accelerate with the continuous fall in lithium compound prices.
The demand for ternary cathode materials has not improved and the companies are mainly consuming existing inventory. As a result, the companies intensify production cuts in April and are cautious with raw material procurement against bearish market sentiment.
▼ Lithium iron phosphate prices are expected to remain bearish next week.
The price of lithium iron phosphate continues to decline rapidly due to slow growth in the automotive industry and increased pressure to reduce costs from downstream cell producers. The decline in the price of lithium iron phosphate materials is affecting upstream material prices in turn. Although the energy storage market has a positive outlook, it may take a while to initiate actual demand.
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