Most second-quarter orders in the domestic EV market have been signed sequentially. While some manufacturers saw modest upward adjustments in payables, overall market changes remained limited.

Current manufacturer expectations for this month and April remain cautious, with some companies having already lowered their April production forecasts.

On the demand side, the EV battery market has seen order contractions compared to earlier expectations, impacted by lackluster new energy vehicle sales both domestically and internationally.

Although March traditionally marks a demand recovery period and represents the final deadline for "export rush" orders ahead of policy changes, leading to a significant MoM increase compared to February, the magnitude of this recovery is expected to be more limited than pre-holiday forecasts suggested.

This week, lithium hydroxide prices continued their gradual decline. Supply side, most production followed the schedule with no significant changes; market sentiment, upstream enterprises produced based on sales, spot order availability remained limited, and reluctance to budge on prices showed no signs of easing; downstream, some material plants exhibited certain purchase willingness, and with the National Day holiday approaching, hazardous chemical transport restrictions prompted some enterprises to inquire and stockpile in advance. Currently, transaction discounts show no clear downward trend, and based on this, lithium hydroxide prices continued to operate with minor reductions.

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 Morning Meeting Summary: This week, the spot price of refined cobalt has slightly declined. Supply side, the quotes from mainstream traders have shown a slight downward trend. Due to the relatively low economic efficiency of refined cobalt production, the operating rate of smelters remains low, leading to a slight decrease in the supply of refined cobalt. Currently, the market is still digesting social inventory. Demand side, downstream producers continue to maintain a just-in-time procurement pace, and there has been no significant stockpiling. Overall, buying interest in the market remains weak. It is expected that the spot price of refined cobalt will continue to fluctuate this week.

This week, lithium hydroxide prices continued to decline. In terms of market sentiment, most ternary cathode material manufacturers had limited demand for spot orders and weak purchase intentions. Upstream, due to high inventory levels and relatively limited shipping channels, the attitude of refusing to budge on prices has softened somewhat. Coupled with the continuous decline in lithium carbonate prices and the relatively low lithium ore prices, which have led to a weakening of cost support, this has dragged down lithium hydroxide prices. On the supply side, lithium hydroxide production in May remained basically stable MoM: some companies' new production lines have achieved a certain level of production ramp-up, contributing a certain increase to overall output, but the overall impact was not significant. In June, individual smelting companies are expected to halt production for technological transformation, but at the same time, the production ramp-up of new production lines at some companies will supplement overall output. Overall, after accounting for increases and decreases, production schedules remained basically flat MoM. On the demand side, from the perspective of production schedules, ternary cathode material production remained relatively stable or slightly weak MoM. There were no significant changes in end-use demand, and the demand passed up to the material side remained almost at the May level. In terms of supply-demand balance, lithium hydroxide production and sales in June are expected to remain relatively stable. The volume of imports and exports may continue to be low due to weak overseas demand, and the monthly balance is likely to maintain the recent trend of a slight surplus. Currently, with the continuous decline in discounts for long-term agreements and spot orders, the upward channel is blocked, and the downward price trend is evident.

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.

This week, the decline in lithium hydroxide prices has accelerated. In terms of market sentiment, most downstream buyers primarily rely on long-term agreements and customer-supplied materials for their lithium hydroxide purchases, leaving limited room for spot orders amidst the absence of significant demand growth from downstream sectors. On the supply side, most companies have maintained a relatively stable production pace recently. However, due to generally high inventory levels and limited sales channels, their resistance to price reductions from downstream buyers has somewhat weakened, with transaction discounts deepening compared to the previous period. Coupled with the continuous decline in lithium carbonate prices and the weakening cost support brought about by the rapid fall in lithium ore prices, lithium hydroxide prices are under pressure.