The price of nickel, recording as high as $42,995 per ton on March 9th, fell to $27,750, which is more than 40% decline. The battery cell and material industry is in conflict supplying to finished product industry such as EV and energy storage system (ESS) due to continually increasing raw material prices. The conflicts will reduce gradually if the cost of raw materials continues to decline.
According to the London Metal Exchange (LME) on the 12th, the spot price of nickel fell more than 40% from $42,995 per ton in early March to $27,750 per ton on the 11th of this month. A key raw material for lithium-ion battery cathode materials, Lithium cost has been steadily falling since this month, but has yet to gone down to $24,282, which was a price before the price surge in March.
The costs of aluminum and cobalt are also on the decline. Aluminum has fallen 27.8% since its high of $3,663, and cobalt has also fallen to $81,690 from $82,400 per ton in March. The costs of these raw materials are returning back to the prices from early this year.
An official from the battery industry said, “There were conflicts between finished products, battery cells, and material companies about price-linked negotiation due to the price increase of raw materials for batteries such as nickel, lithium, and cobalt. In the end, consumers were also affected by the price change; hence, we are closely monitoring the change in prices.”
Nickel prices exponentially increased by 250% over two days on March 7 and 8. Then, the London Exchange had to cancel multibillion-dollar transactions and halted nickel trading.
By Staff Reporter Taejun Park (gaius@etnews.com)