Latest Update in the SMM Lithium-ion Battery Market

[SMM Analysis: Weekly Review of Scrap Spot Price Trends, 2024.12.30-2025.1.3] This week, the ternary coefficient in the recycled scrap market remained basically stable, while iron-lithium showed a slight decline. Material side, lithium carbonate prices fluctuated downward this week, nickel salt prices were relatively stable, and cobalt salt prices slightly declined. Supply side, approaching the year-end, battery manufacturers showed a clear sentiment to stand firm on quotes. Prices of unbroken materials remained relatively stable. For ternary scrap, despite fluctuations in nickel, cobalt, and lithium chemical prices, the ternary pole piece coefficient stayed at 75-77, basically flat compared to last week, while the battery coefficient also remained stable in the 70-74 range. Regarding iron-lithium, the continued losses between lithium chemical prices and black mass production costs led to a slight decline in iron-lithium scrap prices, with the center of iron-lithium pole piece black mass lithium points around 2,850-2,900 yuan. Currently, as the ESS grid connection period has passed, most enterprises are maintaining just-in-time procurement and production, with low acceptance of high-priced black mass. In the short term, scrap prices are expected to continue fluctuating with changes in nickel, cobalt, and lithium prices.

[SMM Analysis: Enterprises Halt Production to Observe Policy Impact, Secondary Copper Rod Operating Rate Declines] According to SMM survey data, the operating rate of secondary copper rod reached 21.74% this week (18 surveyed enterprises, total capacity of 1.94 million mt/year), down 6.49 percentage points WoW and 16.15 percentage points YoY. The average price spread of refined and secondary copper rods this week was 729 yuan/mt, 29 yuan/mt lower than last week's 758 yuan/mt...

How Was the Operating Situation of Zinc Downstream Sectors in the First Week of 2025? This week, zinc downstream consumption showed mixed performance. The production of galvanizing and zinc oxide declined as the weather gradually turned colder, year-end approached, and some end-user orders entered the off-season, coupled with enterprises taking holidays, leading to a decrease in operating rates...

[SMM Analysis] SMM has learned that on January 3, the China Huadian Corporation announced the tender for the 2025 LFP Electrochemical ESS Framework Procurement. This centralised procurement will adjust the battery prefabricated cabin prices in the contract for shortlisted suppliers based on the price fluctuation of lithium carbonate (99.5% battery-grade) published on the official website of SMM. The estimated procurement capacity is approximately 6 GWh, including the supply and installation guidance of 0.5C and 0.25C LFP electrochemical ESS (including batteries). The battery cell capacity is ≥314Ah, with an overall warranty of five years.

[SMM Analysis: Rare Earth Market Fluctuates in December, How Will Prices Develop in the Future?] Reviewing the development of the rare earth market in December, the listing prices of China Northern Rare Earth remained unchanged at the beginning of the month, which was within market expectations and thus did not have a significant impact on the overall market. Pr-Nd product prices showed a continuous downward trend due to weak downstream demand.

For 2025, GAC Group aims to achieve a 15% year-over-year growth in annual sales.

Die-Casting Zinc Alloy Consumption Q4 Review and Q1 Outlook As 2024 is coming to an end and 2025 is gradually unfolding, let us take this period to review Q4 and look ahead to the performance of the die-casting zinc alloy market in Q1. This article will focus on a detailed analysis of overall operating conditions, end-use consumption, and inventory...

[SMM Analysis: Silver Nitrate Production Declined in December?] Silver nitrate production in December fell 8.7% MoM and 11.4% YoY.