Institution: China's lithium battery prices fell by 2% in October, and overcapacity will continue until 2024
According to research firm TrendForce Consulting, due to insufficient overall demand in the power battery market, lithium battery manufacturers' willingness to replenish inventory has decreased, and currently the main focus is on digesting inventory. Therefore, the average price of power lithium batteries in China decreased by about 2% in October, but the decline narrowed compared to August and September. It is expected that overcapacity will continue until 2024.
Among them, electric vehicle battery cells experienced a decrease of about 2% month on month in October; Lithium cobalt oxide batteries for consumer electronics decreased by 1.3%; The maximum drop in energy storage cells is 3.3%.
The institution stated that the continuous weak demand in the power and energy storage markets has slowed down the pace of raw material procurement for lithium battery manufacturers; At the same time, the traditional peak season has passed, and it is expected that demand will be difficult to improve before the end of the year, which will increase the difficulty for downstream enterprises to destock and delay inventory adjustment time.
In terms of energy storage cells, the market order volume in China decreased significantly in October, mainly affected by the decline in overseas market demand. In October, the average price of lithium iron phosphate energy storage cells dropped to 0.5 yuan/Wh, and the decline is expected to continue in November.
In terms of lithium cobalt oxide batteries for consumer electronics, demand rebounded in October, with sales growth driven by terminal digital product consumption; In addition, the price of cobalt raw materials has slightly increased. However, due to the impact of the decline in prices of other raw materials such as lithium carbonate, the average price of cobalt acid lithium batteries in October was 6.43 yuan/Ah, a decrease of 1.3%. It is expected that prices will stabilize in November.
At present, the power lithium batteries used in electric vehicles are mainly divided into square ternary lithium batteries, square iron phosphate lithium batteries, soft pack ternary lithium batteries, etc. Jibang Consulting stated that the Chinese new energy vehicle market will still have strong growth resilience in 2024, and sales in Europe and North America will also further increase. At present, the global proportion of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles has not yet exceeded 10%, so the growth potential is significant.
The institution predicts that China's lithium battery exports will have a good performance in 2024, but overcapacity will continue until 2024, and it is expected that China's power battery prices will still slowly decline in 2024.
In terms of energy storage cells, the market order volume in China decreased significantly in October, mainly affected by the decline in overseas market demand. In October, the average price of lithium iron phosphate energy storage cells dropped to 0.5 yuan/Wh, and the decline is expected to continue in November.
In terms of lithium cobalt oxide batteries for consumer electronics, demand rebounded in October, with sales growth driven by terminal digital product consumption; In addition, the price of cobalt raw materials has slightly increased. However, due to the impact of the decline in prices of other raw materials such as lithium carbonate, the average price of cobalt acid lithium batteries in October was 6.43 yuan/Ah, a decrease of 1.3%. It is expected that prices will stabilize in November.
At present, the power lithium batteries used in electric vehicles are mainly divided into square ternary lithium batteries, square iron phosphate lithium batteries, soft pack ternary lithium batteries, etc. Jibang Consulting stated that the Chinese new energy vehicle market will still have strong growth resilience in 2024, and sales in Europe and North America will also further increase. At present, the global proportion of pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles has not yet exceeded 10%, so the growth potential is significant.
The institution predicts that China's lithium battery exports will have a good performance in 2024, but overcapacity will continue until 2024, and it is expected that China's power battery prices will still slowly decline in 2024.