China's ternary precursor market has been haunted by pessimism since the second quarter of 2023, when the prices remained low without significant rebounds. The reasons include persistently poor downstream demand, as well as aggravating oversupply, in addition to weak cost support.
Source: Mysteel
Entering the fourth quarter, the overseas demand has not yet shown signs of improvement, and the domestic market stayed subsided as well.
In this circumstance, the top-tier precursor manufacturers reduced the production and prioritized destocking to control the cost, and mainly delivered long-term orders.
With the demand unlikely to pick up in November, the ternary precursor production is estimated to fall 5% from October at 62,600 t.
Source: Mysteel
On the raw material end, the prices of nickel sulfate have been falling due to smelters' overstock, and cobalt sulfate prices have been weighed on by poor transactions.
In summary, the ternary precursor market is more than likely to stay gloomy in the near term.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com