According to a preliminary survey by Mysteel under its new sample methodology, China's ternary precursor output in October 2026 was 91,600 tonnes, down 6.34% MoM and down 3.58% YoY.
In October and November 2026, China's ternary precursor output is showing a trend of consecutive declines with widening decreases. The core reason is the dual squeeze of weak demand and margin pressure. Growth in the terminal electric vehicle (EV) market has slowed, and downstream battery cell manufacturers are mainly focused on destocking, significantly weakening their procurement demand for precursors and leaving companies with insufficient orders. At the same time, on the cost side, drifting lower prices of raw materials such as nickel sulfate have weakened cost support. Combined with lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and other substitute technologies continuously capturing market share, ternary precursor producers' production margins have been undermined and their enthusiasm for production scheduling remains low. Amid sluggish demand and pessimistic expectations, producers have proactively lowered operating rates to control inventories, causing the estimated November output to post a further widening MoM decline.
China's estimated ternary precursor output in November 2026 is 83,600 tonnes, down 8.74% MoM and down 7.42% YoY.
Edited by Cassie Li, lixiangying@mysteel.com
