According to the latest survey by Jibang Consulting New Energy Research Center, the price of cobalt metal in the first quarter of 2018 is high. The third quarter lithium battery core is estimated to increase by 5~15%, but the price is in the fourth quarter. The opportunity is steady.
EnergyTrend senior research manager Lu Lizhen pointed out that reflecting the increase in material costs in the first quarter, the overall IT battery core price continued to rise in the second quarter, but because some manufacturers have prepared in advance, the price increase is flatter than expected, the third quarter increase is significant Raise. Among them, the price of square batteries rose slightly, about 6~8%; cylindrical batteries not only reflected the cost of materials, but also reduced the supply capacity, maintaining the shortage situation, the increase was about 7~9%; The price increase is the most, estimated at about 10~15%.
In other important components of the battery system, the displacement of the vehicle capacity will expand from the capacitor to passive components such as resistors and inductors. In the third quarter, the resistance is the highest component of the single-quarter price increase. 5~10%, as for the capacitor, it maintains a slight increase of 3~5%. The reason for the price increase is mainly because the vehicle application accounts for some of the IT supply capacity.
In terms of battery technology development, manufacturers are still striving to increase energy density, for example, using high-nickel materials and high-voltage methods. However, high-nickel batteries have higher requirements for material structure stability and battery core process conditions, and the current development is concentrated in Japan. The supplier; the high-voltage method is more commonly used in digital products, Chinese suppliers have begun to cut into.
As for the market situation of cobalt metal, the market expects that the rapid development of China's new energy vehicles will greatly increase the demand for cobalt materials, causing a surge in cobalt metal prices. However, from the fundamental point of view, due to the current cobalt mines worldwide The total demand is about 110,000 to 120,000 tons per year. The demand for new energy vehicles in China only accounts for 7,000 to 8,000 tons per year. It is difficult to affect the overall supply and demand balance in the short term. EnergyTrend expects that Congo's infectious diseases may affect cobalt metal production capacity. The progress of the introduction of high-nickel materials in the third quarter will also have a certain impact on the demand for cobalt metal, which will affect the future price changes of cobalt metal market.
