China's leading battery companies have recently notified contracted customers to renegotiate prices, and their quotations may increase by about 20%. It is understood that the domestic battery industry will basically raise prices in a unified manner in the near future. The long-term contract signing method is still under negotiation with downstream companies next year. It can also be seen that the willingness of battery companies to increase prices this time is firm.
The collective price increase behavior of battery companies is also expected. Since the beginning of this year, lithium battery materials have increased substantially. For example, the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has risen from an average price of 63,000 yuan/ton in January to more than 200,000 yuan in the near future, and the price has risen by 228%! The price of lithium hexafluorophosphate rose from 110,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year to 560,000 yuan/ton, an increase of more than 400%! The prices of the four main materials of lithium batteries have risen accordingly. The price of ternary materials rose by 73%, the price of lithium iron phosphate materials rose by 133%, and the price of electrolyte rose by 172%!
With the rise of all materials for lithium batteries, the cost of lithium batteries is also rising. The cost of a conventional 523 square ternary battery cell rose from an average price of 0.5 yuan/Wh in January to 0.84 yuan/Wh in November, an increase of 63%. The cost of prismatic lithium iron phosphate batteries also rose from 0.42 yuan/Wh in January to 0.69 yuan/Wh in November, an increase of 62%.
In the past few years, the cost of battery cells has decreased year by year, and this year has increased by more than 50%. However, this year's power market battery companies have adjusted their prices relatively small, and most orders are still priced at the beginning of the year. The overall contradiction between supply and demand of battery materials next year has not yet been resolved. Affected by the winter production reduction of Qinghai Salt Lake and the slow expansion of mines, the overall supply and demand are out of balance, and prices are expected to remain high next year. Due to the concentration of enterprises and the chemical properties of the products, the expansion rate of lithium hexafluorophosphate is also slow, and the price is difficult to drop. It is expected that the shortage of other solvents will gradually ease in the second half of next year, making it more difficult for electrolyte prices to fall. It is also a question of whether the negative electrode graphitization capacity can be released smoothly next year. The shortage of supply is still difficult to solve, and there is still upside room for negative electrode prices. Diaphragm equipment supply problems may intensively break out next year, affecting the release of new diaphragm production capacity, and diaphragm prices may also rise.
Overall, the price of lithium battery materials is likely to be at a high level next year, and the cost of lithium batteries is still difficult to control. In order to ensure the normal operation of raw material supply companies, it is also necessary for battery companies to increase prices. To ensure the smooth completion of next year's production plan, automakers are more willing to accept price increases.
At present, it is difficult to reduce the cost of battery cells in the past two years. For car companies, the past two years have also been a critical period for seizing market share. Therefore, after removing the method of raising the price of the whole vehicle, it is particularly important to bind the midstream material method and the upstream raw material company to predict the future raw material cost in advance and control the battery cost.
