CATL asked cathode material suppliers in early July to offer a 5 percent to 10 percent discount in settling lithium carbonate prices, according to local media.
Chinese power battery giant CATL is reportedly asking raw material makers to offer discounts, which is not good news for lithium carbonate suppliers but could favor electric vehicle (EV) makers.
CATL asked cathode material suppliers in early July to offer a 5 percent to 10 percent discount in settling lithium carbonate prices, local media Cailian said in a report today, citing three industry chain sources.
The brief report said CATL did not respond and did not provide anything more.
The price of lithium carbonate, a key raw material for power batteries, has soared over the past two years as China's EV industry has grown rapidly.
The price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in China rose to RMB 590,000 ($82,280) per ton on November 23, 2022, up about 14 times from RMB 41,000 per ton in June 2020.
However, going into 2023, factors including weak demand for EVs have caused lithium carbonate prices to slide all the way down.
Until April 21, lithium carbonate prices hadn't seen a single one-day increase in China this year, down about 65 percent since the beginning of the year, according to Mysteel.
The lowest point of the year for battery-grade lithium carbonate was RMB 179,000 per ton on April 23, when the price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate was RMB 135,000 per ton.
From the end of April, lithium carbonate prices began to rebound, with battery grade rebounding to RMB 300,000 per ton on May 18.
Since then, the price of lithium carbonate has basically remained stable.
Today, battery-grade lithium carbonate fell RMB 1,500 per ton to RMB 295,000 per ton, while industrial-grade fell RMB 3,500 per ton to RMB 281,500 per ton, according to Mysteel.
In June, China's power battery installed capacity stood at 32.9 GWh, up 21.8 percent year-on-year and 16.5 percent from May, according to data released on July 11 by the China Automotive Battery Innovation Alliance (CABIA).
CATL's power battery installed capacity in June was 14.85 GWh, ranking first with a 45.13 percent share, up 3.82 percentage points from May's 41.31 percent share.
($1 = RMB 7.1704)
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