Latest Update in the SMM Market

This week, the prices of ternary cathode material continued to decline. In terms of raw material costs, the price of cobalt sulphate continued to drop slightly, while the prices of nickel sulphate and manganese sulphate remained stable for the time being. Lithium carbonate rebounded to a certain extent due to macro sentiment, while the price of lithium hydroxide still showed a clear downward trend.

[SMM Cobalt & Lithium Morning Meeting Summary: This week, the price of ternary cathode material continued to decline. On the raw material cost side, nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and manganese sulphate all showed a slight downward trend, while the prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide had not yet hit bottom and continued to face pressure. In the NEV market, terminal auto sales fell short of expectations, leading to weak demand for cathode materials and sluggish market sentiment. Except for a few leading battery cell manufacturers that saw an increase in orders, overall demand remained sluggish.

This week, the prices of ternary cathode materials continued to decline. On the raw material cost side, nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and manganese sulphate all showed a slight downward trend, while the prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide had not yet hit bottom and continued to face downward pressure.

[SMM Analysis: Cathode Material Production Increased MoM in May, While Downstream End-use Demand Growth Remained Sluggish] SMM reported on June 4: In May, total lithium carbonate production decreased by 2% MoM but increased by 15% YoY; lithium hydroxide production remained largely stable MoM but decreased by over 20% YoY; cobalt sulphate production decreased by 13% MoM; Co3O4 production increased slightly both MoM and YoY; ternary cathode precursor production decreased by 3.99% MoM but increased by 4.53% YoY; ternary cathode material production increased by 3.52% MoM and 23.91% YoY; the iron phosphate market remained stable, with production increasing by 2% MoM and 38% YoY; LFP production increased by approximately 6.7% MoM and 43% YoY; LCO production increased by 6% MoM.

In May 2025, SMM's ternary cathode material production increased by 3.52% MoM and 23.91% YoY.

This week, the prices of ternary cathode materials continued to decline. In terms of raw material costs, nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, and manganese sulphate all showed a slight downward trend, while the prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide had not yet hit bottom and continued to face downward pressure.

This week, the prices of ternary cathode material continued to decline. On the raw material cost side, the prices of nickel sulphate and manganese sulphate fluctuated relatively small, while the price of cobalt sulphate decreased slightly, and the price of lithium chemicals still showed a relatively significant downward trend.

SMM Cobalt Morning Meeting Summary: This week, the spot price of cobalt sulphate fell. Supply side, spot quotes for cobalt sulphate from smelters slightly loosened, and quotes from recyclers also declined. Demand side, downstream precursor plants showed weak acceptance of the current cobalt sulphate prices and had not yet initiated procurement actions; while Co3O4 enterprises were mainly in a wait-and-see sentiment, resulting in extremely sluggish spot transactions of cobalt sulphate recently. It is expected that next week, the spot price of cobalt sulphate may maintain a fluctuating trend.

[SMM Cobalt and Lithium Morning Meeting Summary: On Monday, the price of ternary cathode material continued to decline. In terms of raw materials, the prices of nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate remained stable, while the price of manganese sulphate decreased slightly. The prices of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide saw a significant drop. Demand side, the performance of the large NEV market was relatively mediocre. Despite some automakers achieving good sales, providing some support for ternary cathode material, the increase in demand was limited. The consumer and small power markets have recently received a large number of orders, especially from overseas markets. However, due to the limited size of the consumer market, the overall growth was not significant.

This week, the price of ternary cathode material continued to decline. On the raw material side, the prices of nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, manganese sulphate, lithium carbonate, and lithium hydroxide all showed varying degrees of decline, but the drop in lithium chemicals slowed down.