SMM October 23 News:
Second-Life Battery Market This Week:
This week, second-life battery market prices remained generally stable, a result of combined factors from both supply and demand sides as well as the cost side. Cost side, cobalt salt prices rose significantly due to adjustments in cobalt supply policies in the DRC, and this cost pressure transmitted along the industry chain to ternary cathode material and new battery cells for well-known mobile phones, driving a noticeable upward trend in prices. Supply side, driven by the traditional September-October peak season sales period, battery cell manufacturers accelerated capacity release, providing significant support to the supply in the second-life battery regeneration sector. Demand side, current prices have reached the high end of downstream enterprises' psychological expectations, and market acceptance of higher prices continues to decline, leading to restocking mainly for rigid demand, with overall purchase willingness turning cautious. The interplay between supply and demand sides and the support from the cost side offset each other, ultimately keeping second-life battery market prices stable.
Considering the current supply-demand relationship and the pace of cost transmission in the second-life battery market, overall demand is expected to remain relatively stable in the short term, which limits the room for overall market price increases and makes significant fluctuations unlikely. However, given the lag in cost-side transmission, the impact of the current cobalt price increase has not yet fully passed through to the end-use second-life application segment. Meanwhile, lithium carbonate prices have recently started to rise. When the combined cost pressure from these two factors is transmitted to the end-use market, it is expected to drive a certain degree of price increase for ternary B-grade battery cells.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lü Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Lei Yue 021-20707873
