Group 1: Report Industry Investment Rating - No relevant content provided Group 2: Core View of the Report - Over the next 1 - 2 weeks, the lithium carbonate futures market may shift to a wide - range, volatile, and bullish pattern. Although supply disturbances have boosted market bullish sentiment, the impact of current mine shutdowns on actual production is yet to be seen, and lithium salt plants maintain high operating rates, so the spot market still faces inventory pressure. On the demand side, the growth rate of new energy vehicle sales is slowing down, and the "anti - involution" initiative in the battery industry chain restrains the mid - stream's impulse to expand production, so there is a risk of revising the peak - season expectations. Attention should be paid to the marginal changes in policy implementation and the progress of mine rectification in Jiangxi [3]. Group 3: Summary According to the Table of Contents 1. Daily Market Summary - Analysis of Lithium Carbonate Futures Market Data - On August 18, the price of the lithium carbonate main contract rose to 89,240 yuan/ton; the basis weakened from - 3,600 yuan/ton to - 5,940 yuan/ton, indicating that the market's pricing of the supply - tightening expectation increased [1]. - The open interest of the main contract increased by 19,967 lots to 421,106 lots, and the trading volume increased to 1.036328 million lots. The simultaneous expansion of volume and open interest shows that the divergence among funds on the direction of lithium prices has intensified, and the market's gambling sentiment has heated up [1]. - Analysis of Industrial Chain Supply - Demand and Inventory Changes - Supply side: The shutdown of Ningde Times' Jianxiawo Mine in Jiangxi has triggered market concerns about the shortage of lithium mica supply. Coupled with the regulatory pressure on local mines to complete the re - application of ore types by September 30, the uncertainty of lithium ore supply has increased. However, the prices of spodumene concentrate and lithium mica concentrate are stable at 940 yuan/ton and 990 yuan/ton respectively, and the weekly capacity utilization rate of lithium carbonate remains flat at 63.92%. The short - term actual supply has not significantly shrunk [2]. - Demand side: The retail performance of new energy vehicles is moderate, with the year - on - year growth rate dropping to 6% from August 1 - 10, indicating marginal weakening pressure on demand. However, the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate increased by 0.54% week - on - week to 55,500 yuan/ton, and the price of power ternary materials slightly increased by 0.42% to 119,695 yuan/ton, indicating that there is still some support for downstream inventory - building demand [2]. - Inventory and warehouse receipts: Lithium carbonate inventory decreased slightly by 162 physical tons to 142,256 tons (a decrease of 0.11%), and the absolute value is still at a high level this year. The number of warehouse receipts has not changed abnormally, and the overall inventory pressure has not been substantially relieved [2]. - Market Price - Future 1 - 2 weeks, the lithium carbonate futures market may enter a wide - range, volatile, and bullish pattern. Although supply disturbances have boosted market bullish sentiment, the impact of current mine shutdowns on actual production is yet to be seen, and the spot market still faces inventory pressure. On the demand side, the growth rate of new energy vehicle sales is slowing down, and the "anti - involution" initiative in the battery industry chain restrains the mid - stream's impulse to expand production, so there is a risk of revising the peak - season expectations. Attention should be paid to the marginal changes in policy implementation and the progress of mine rectification in Jiangxi [3]. 2. Industrial Chain Price Monitoring - From August 15 to August 18, the price of the lithium carbonate main contract rose from 86,900 yuan/ton to 89,240 yuan/ton, an increase of 2,340 yuan or 2.69%. The basis weakened from - 3,600 yuan/ton to - 5,940 yuan/ton, a decrease of 2,340 yuan or 65%. The open interest of the main contract increased from 401,139 lots to 421,106 lots, an increase of 19,967 lots or 4.98%. The trading volume of the main contract increased from 868,811 lots to 1,036,328 lots, an increase of 167,517 lots or 19.28% [5]. - The market price of battery - grade lithium carbonate remained unchanged at 83,300 yuan/ton. The market prices of spodumene concentrate and lithium mica concentrate remained unchanged at 940 yuan/ton and 990 yuan/ton respectively. The price of lithium hexafluorophosphate increased from 55,200 yuan/ton to 55,500 yuan/ton, an increase of 300 yuan or 0.54%. The price of power ternary materials increased from 119,195 yuan/ton to 119,695 yuan/ton, an increase of 500 yuan or 0.42%. The price of power lithium iron phosphate increased from 35,655 yuan/ton to 36,170 yuan/ton, an increase of 515 yuan or 1.44% [5]. - From August 8 to August 15, the capacity utilization rate of lithium carbonate remained unchanged at 63.92%. Lithium carbonate inventory decreased from 142,418 physical tons to 142,256 physical tons, a decrease of 162 physical tons or 0.11%. The price of 523 cylindrical ternary cells increased from 4.31 yuan/piece to 4.32 yuan/piece, an increase of 0.01 yuan or 0.23%. The price of 523 square ternary cells increased from 0.38 yuan/Wh to 0.39 yuan/Wh, an increase of 0.00 yuan or 0.26%. The price of 523 soft - pack ternary cells remained unchanged at 0.40 yuan/Wh. The price of square lithium iron phosphate cells remained unchanged at 0.32 yuan/Wh. The price of cobalt - acid lithium cells increased from 5.53 yuan/Ah to 5.55 yuan/Ah, an increase of 0.02 yuan or 0.36% [5]. 3. Industry Dynamics and Interpretation - Spot Market Quotation (August 18): The SMM battery - grade lithium carbonate index price was 84,794 yuan/ton, a increase of 2,069 yuan/ton compared with the previous working day. The price range of battery - grade lithium carbonate was 82,500 - 86,700 yuan/ton, with an average price of 84,600 yuan/ton, a increase of 1,900 yuan/ton compared with the previous working day. The price range of industrial - grade lithium carbonate was 81,600 - 83,000 yuan/ton, with an average price of 82,300 yuan/ton, a increase of 1,900 yuan/ton compared with the previous working day. Affected by the news that a lithium salt production enterprise in Qinghai may face shutdown due to the mining license issue, the futures price continued to rise, breaking through the 90,000 - yuan/ton mark at the highest. The downstream purchasing enthusiasm continued to increase, and the market activity increased. Due to the rigid - demand purchasing needs of some downstream enterprises and the general reluctance - to - sell sentiment of upstream and traders, the center of the spot transaction price of lithium carbonate continued to move up significantly. Under the dual effects of the supply - tightening expectation and the peak - demand season, the spot price of lithium carbonate is expected to have room for an upward movement, and the price center may continue to move up in the short term. The trading sentiment factor of lithium carbonate on this day was 2.31, the upstream shipping sentiment factor was 2.67, and the downstream purchasing sentiment factor was 2.05. The downstream purchasing sentiment factor increased compared with the previous working day, and the upstream shipping sentiment factor remained relatively stable [6]. - Downstream Consumption Situation (August 13): According to the data of the Passenger Car Association, from August 1 - 10, the retail sales of new energy vehicles in the national passenger car market were 262,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 6% and a month - on - month increase of 6%. The retail penetration rate of the national new energy market was 57.9%. The cumulative retail sales this year were 6.717 million units, a year - on - year increase of 28%. From August 1 - 10, the wholesale sales of new energy vehicles by national passenger car manufacturers were 229,000 units, a year - on - year increase of 15% and a month - on - month decrease of 2%. The wholesale penetration rate of new energy manufacturers was 56.8%. The cumulative wholesale sales this year were 7.862 million units, a year - on - year increase of 35% [6]. - Industry News - August 15: Ningde Times' Jianxiawo Mine, one of the largest lithium mica mines in Yichun, announced a shutdown due to the expiration of the mining license, which will directly affect the change in lithium carbonate prices. Local mines in Yichun mainly mine ceramic soil and tantalum - niobium ore, but the new mining law revision tends to determine the ore type based on the actual economic behavior. There are a total of eight mines in the same situation, and local authorities require them to re - apply before September 30 this year [8]. - August 13: An "anti - involution" storm is sweeping through the entire lithium - battery industry chain. On August 12, the Lithium Industry Branch of the China Non - Ferrous Metals Industry Association issued an initiative for the healthy development of the lithium industry, calling on the entire industry chain to jointly resist vicious competition and promote the high - quality development of the lithium industry. The initiative includes strengthening upstream - downstream collaboration, maintaining industrial safety, adhering to the principle of fair market competition, and actively assessing market trends to reasonably plan new production capacities [8]. - July 23: On July 22, Yang Hongxin, the chairman of Hive Energy, revealed that Hive Energy is fully promoting the R & D and mass - production process of solid - state batteries. It plans to trial - produce the first - generation 140Ah semi - solid batteries on its 2.3GWh semi - solid mass - production line in the fourth quarter of 2025. These batteries will be used exclusively for the next - generation models of BMW MINI and are expected to be supplied on a large scale starting in 2027 [9]. 4. Industrial Chain Data Charts - The report provides data charts including the main contract and basis of lithium carbonate futures, lithium concentrate prices, hexafluorophosphate and electrolyte prices, ternary precursor prices, ternary material prices, lithium iron phosphate prices, lithium carbonate operating rate, lithium carbonate inventory, and cell selling prices, with data sources including iFinD, SMM, Shanghai Steel Union, and the R & D department of Tonghui Futures [10][13][15][17][18][21][22][24].
多个扰动预期仍未落地，碳酸锂高位区间偏强波动
Tong Hui Qi Huo·2025-08-19 11:19