TrendForce: In April 2023, the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in China fell to RMB 198,000 per ton, a monthly drop of 39%.

According to TrendForce's official WeChat account, TrendForce consulting research shows that the average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in China fell to RMB 198,000 per ton in April, a monthly drop of 39%; lithium hydroxide fell to RMB 266,000 per ton, a monthly drop of 33%. Although the average price fell further from the previous month, the price of lithium salts showed signs of stopping the decline and rebounding in mid-to-late April . In addition, lithium hexafluorophosphate, a raw material for electrolytes, has also begun to rise recently, and the prices of negative electrode materials, iron phosphate, lithium battery copper foil and other materials have also bottomed out, and the prices of the power battery industry chain have gradually stabilized.

As the price of lithium salts continued to fall for five months before stabilizing in April, the prices of various lithium-ion battery products fell back to the level before the lithium-ion battery market demand exploded at the end of 2021. Looking at the product prices specifically (all in RMB), the average prices of automotive square ternary cells, iron-lithium cells and soft-pack ternary power cells fell to 0.83 yuan/Wh, 0.74 yuan/Wh and 0.87 yuan/Wh respectively in April; in terms of energy storage cells, lithium iron phosphate energy storage cells fell 10.5% in April, about 0.74 yuan/Wh, while the price of lithium iron phosphate materials has started to rise recently, and corporate orders have also begun to pick up; in terms of consumer battery cells, the average price of lithium cobalt oxide cells was 8.54 yuan/Ah in April, a monthly drop of 9.3%. Similarly, the lithium cobalt oxide market has picked up recently.

TrendForce said that the destocking of Chinese power battery manufacturers is nearing completion, and the supply and demand relationship has gradually returned to normal after more than a quarter of market-oriented adjustments. It is observed that the price of battery materials is gradually stabilizing, and market demand is growing steadily. China's power battery industry chain shows signs of gradually warming up. With the recovery of downstream demand, it is expected to usher in a full recovery in June.

Note: Data released by Shanghai Steel Union on May 8 showed that battery-grade lithium carbonate rose by 10,000 yuan/ton today, with an average price of 206,000 yuan/ton, and industrial-grade lithium carbonate rose by 5,000 yuan/ton, with an average price of 175,000 yuan/ton.

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