Industry Hot News

First Batch of Price Negotiations for LFP in the New Year Lands

The much-talked-about price negotiations for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) in the new year have finally made substantive progress. According to ICCSino , here are the details of the first batch of price increases:

Processing Fees: Except for a few major clients still in ongoing negotiations, most other clients have accepted the suppliers' request to raise processing fees by 1,000 yuan per ton.

Settlement Reference for Lithium Carbonate: Suppliers have generally presented two options to clients: 1) Clients supply all the lithium carbonate themselves; 2) For clients unable to supply all the lithium carbonate, prices will not reference website quotes but will instead follow futures market fluctuations.

Additionally, in response to requests from industry chain clients, ICCSino has launched new price quotes for LFP processing fees across different generations for market reference.

Ministry of Commerce Tightens Export Controls on Dual-Use Items to Japan

On January 6, 2026, the Ministry of Commerce issued its first export control announcement of the year. In accordance with relevant laws and regulations such as the "Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China," and to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international non-proliferation obligations, the Ministry has decided to strengthen export controls on dual-use items to Japan.

Based on announcements from the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs on December 31, 2025, the following categories of graphite products are subject to export controls:

1. Synthetic Graphite Materials and Their Products: Synthetic graphite materials and their products that simultaneously meet three criteria—high purity (purity > 99.9%), high strength (flexural strength > 30 MPa), and high density (density > 1.73 g/cm³)—are subject to controls. Synthetic graphite powder is not included as it lacks the flexural strength criterion.

2. Natural Graphite and Its Products: Natural flake graphite and its products, including spherical graphite and expanded graphite, are subject to controls regardless of their specific processing forms or specifications.

3. Other Related Items: In the context of export controls on lithium batteries and graphite anode materials, synthetic graphite anode materials and anode materials composed of a mixture of synthetic and natural graphite are also subject to controls.

200,000-Ton Fourth-Generation LFP Cathode and 10,000-Ton Silicon-Carbon Anode Projects Commence Construction by Gotion

On the morning of January 6, Gotion High-Tech officially commenced construction on its 200,000-ton LFP cathode material and 10,000-ton silicon-carbon anode material industrialization projects in Lujiang County, Anhui Province.

Currently, Guoxuan has established a comprehensive layout in Lujiang covering "materials—cells—systems—recycling":

• Lujiang Material Base: Comprising Hefei Gotion Battery Materials Co., Ltd. and Hefei Gotion Kehong New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., it has an annual production capacity of 42,000 tons of LFP, 10,000 tons of NMC, 5,000 tons of silicon-carbon anodes, and 1,000 tons of lithium titanate, with plans for a total capacity of 200,000 tons of high-performance LFP cathode materials.

• Lujiang Gotion Battery Base: Phase I has completed a 1 GWh EV battery production line, while Phase II has completed a 6 GWh EV battery production line and a Pack production line, primarily producing LFP cylindrical cells serving mainstream automakers such as JAC, Chery, and BAIC.

Weekly Overview of the Lithium Battery Market

Lithium Battery Materials

Lithium Carbonate:

Domestic lithium carbonate prices continued to rise this week. After the holiday, prices in the futures market surged, with the main contract reaching above 140,000 yuan per ton yesterday, while open interest decreased by nearly 30,000 lots as some funds chose to take profits amid short-term significant gains. In the spot market, the majority of participants are bullish. On the supply side, several lithium carbonate producers are scheduled to reduce production or undergo maintenance starting from late January, leading to a definite supply reduction in February.

Latest Lithium Carbonate Prices as of January 8:

• Battery-grade 99.5%: 139,000-145,000 yuan per ton
• Industrial-grade 99.2%: 126,000-131,000 yuan per ton

NMC Materials:

This week, NMC material prices increased in line with rising costs due to upward movements in the prices of raw materials such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel. In January, as the traditional off-season approaches, demand for power applications has decreased, while the digital consumer sector has seen some demand already fulfilled through advance purchases in the fourth quarter, resulting in a decline in operating rates among mainstream enterprises.

Latest NMC Material Prices as of January 8:

• NMC 532 single-crystal: 175,000-178,000 yuan per ton
• NMC 811-type: 178,000-182,000 yuan per ton

LFP:

LFP prices continued to rise this week, with substantive progress made in new-year price negotiations. Processing fees increased by 1,000 yuan per ton (negotiations with a few major clients are still ongoing). For lithium carbonate settlement, clients can either supply all the lithium carbonate themselves or, if unable to do so, follow futures market fluctuations instead of website quotes. Additionally, Jiangxi Shenhua plans to invest in a 500,000-ton high-end energy storage LFP project in Inner Mongolia, to be built in two phases of 250,000 tons each, with an estimated construction period of 12 months.

Latest LFP Prices as of January 8:

• LFP for EV applications: 50,300-51,300 yuan per ton
• LFP for energy storage: 50,100-51,100 yuan per ton

Anode Materials:

China anode material market prices remained stable this week. Except for head battery manufacturers maintaining prices, material producers have generally raised prices for small and medium-sized battery manufacturers by 1,000-2,000 yuan per ton in the past two months, with January prices yet to be finalized. In terms of production, anode material output decreased by 4-5% month-on-month in January. On the raw material side, needle coke demand remained strong in January, keeping prices high with an upward trend. Petroleum coke prices rebounded after a previous correction, driven by anode restocking and strong negative demand after the holiday.

Latest Anode Material Prices as of January 8:

• Natural graphite high-end products: 50,000-65,000 yuan per ton
• High-end EV anode synthetic graphite: 31,800-64,800 yuan per ton
• Mid-end anode synthetic graphite: 24,700-38,700 yuan per ton

Separators:

China separator market prices remained stable this week. While there was a certain degree of production reduction in the EV sector in January, energy storage demand exceeded expectations, maintaining a good level. Recently, a leading enterprise confirmed its separator procurement prices, which increased by 15-20% year-on-year, mainly because last year's procurement prices were among the lowest in the industry to secure supply support. Another enterprise has yet to announce any price changes.

Latest Separator Prices as of January 8:

• Base film 9μm/wet method: 0.55-1.025 yuan per square meter
• Base film 16μm/dry method: 0.35-0.5 yuan per square meter
• Base film 9+3μm ceramic-coated separator: 0.85-1.225 yuan per square meter

Electrolytes:

China electrolyte market prices increased to a certain extent after the holiday. In terms of January production schedules, electrolyte demand decreased slightly by 3-4%. The operating rate in the 6F market remained high, but major producers may reduce operating rates as the Spring Festival approaches, with second and third-tier producers expected to restock. In terms of prices, 6F market prices decreased slightly after the holiday, solvent prices remained high, and additive prices also decreased slightly due to some inventory.

Latest Electrolyte Prices as of January 8:

• LiPF6 electrolyte: 152,000-163,000 yuan per ton (domestic)
• EV NMC electrolyte: 30,500-38,000 yuan per ton
• EV LFP electrolyte: 29,000-35,000 yuan per ton
• Energy storage LFP electrolyte: 28,500-33,000 yuan per ton

Downstream Demand

EV Batteries:

This week, demand for passenger vehicle EV batteries slowed down, while orders for energy storage and commercial vehicles remained saturated. As a result, enterprises with a higher proportion of energy storage business maintained stable production rings, while those with a higher proportion of power business saw more significant declines. Overall, market supply is expected to decrease slightly by less than 5%.

Latest EV Battery Prices as of January 8:

• Prismatic NMC EV cells: 0.4-0.46 yuan per Wh
• Prismatic LFP EV cells: 0.26-0.355 yuan per Wh
• Prismatic NMC (high-nickel) cells: 640-750 yuan per KWh

xEVs:

After the holiday, China's xEV market remained in a wait-and-see state, with manufacturers continuing to offer price cuts and various financial subsidies, entering a phase of volume contraction and competition. Rising costs for motors, EV batteries, and chips have made life difficult for automakers. According to CPCA data, cumulative retail sales of passenger vehicles in China reached 23.779 million units, up 4% year-on-year; cumulative retail sales of xEVs reached 12.859 million units, up 18% year-on-year; and the cumulative xEV penetration rate was 54.08%.

In 2025, CATL built 1,020 Chocolate battery swap stations and 305 Qiji battery swap stations; the target for 2026 is to have a cumulative total of 3,000 Chocolate and 900 Qiji battery swap stations.

Energy Storage:

China energy storage battery market prices remained generally stable this week. Reviewing bidding and tendering activities in December, the total bidding volume reached 59 GWh, and the total winning bid volume reached 70.7 GWh, setting a new monthly record for winning bids throughout the year. In terms of bidding owners for the whole year, local new energy and independent new energy enterprises accounted for about 60% of the total bidding volume, indicating a shift in energy storage projects from being dominated by central and state-owned enterprises to participation by local private and market-oriented entities. From the perspective of overall market demand at the end of the year, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia saw strong end-of-year grid-connection demand due to policy subsidy reductions in 2026. Hebei and Guangdong also had strong bidding demand for independent energy storage due to policy subsidies and frequency regulation needs.