The cathode materials operation before the Labor Day holiday

Ternary Cathode Material

Last week, ternary cathode material prices remained flat. On the cost side, manufacturers relying on outsourced raw materials continued to be at loss, while the integrated ones maintained their cost advantage. Ternary precursor prices held steady, and lower ternary cathode materials costs led to a recovery in immediate profits. In detail, the production profit of 5-series and 8-series ternary cathode materials stood at approximately Yuan -1,246.94/t and Yuan -1,000.88/t respectively based on outsourced raw material prices as of April 30.

On the supply side, severe overcapacity in ternary precursors and cathode materials, coupled with low operating rates, limited upward price momentum. On the demand side, ternary battery cells continued to see negative growth, leading to declining demand for ternary materials and further weakening price support.

LFP

China's iron phosphate prices remained stable at Yuan 10,750/t last week, while that of monoammonium phosphate (MAP) dropped slightly and producers still faced high production cost. The demand in May was lower than expected, and the price of LFP continued to follow the decline of lithium carbonate prices. Downstream enterprises have made some restocking before the holiday, and the overall production pace is relatively conservative amid calm market sentiment.

As for LFP, the market prices for power grade and energy storage LFP fell Yuan 225/t and Yuan 150/t respectively last week. The prices of LFP continued to decline as lithium carbonate fell Yuan 1,700/t last week. While fabrication charges remained stable and the market was still in a tug-of-war. It's likely that LFP prices will not increase significantly in the future.

LCO

Last week, the transaction price of cobalt lithium oxide (LCO) was loosened slightly. The price of raw material lithium carbonate was around Yuan 70,000/t, and the transaction price of main raw material Co3O4 slightly moved down to Yuan 200,000-210,000/t, and the cost support weakened. In this condition, the quotation and transaction of LCO slightly weakened, with the transaction price being around Yuan 225,000-235,000/t. There was no significant change in the macro side, and short-term LCO prices remained stable.

Edited by Cassie Li, lixiangying@mysteel.com