Lithium prices continue to pull back; cell and system prices edge up

*Starting in May 2026, InfoLink ESS spot price commentary will be published every Wednesday in Chinese and every Thursday in English.
 

Lithium ore and lithium salt

Over the past week, prices for spodumene concentrate and battery-grade lithium carbonate have continued to pull back.

• Battery-grade lithium carbonate (spot)
  Price range: RMB 170,000–180,000/MT
  Average price: RMB 175,000/MT
  Down 3.8% WoW
• Spodumene concentrate (SC6, CIF)
  Price range: USD 2,500-2,600/MT
  Average price: USD 2,550/MT
  Down 1.9% WoW

This round of price correction has largely unfolded at elevated levels following the earlier rapid price rally. Hidden inventories, potential future production restarts, and downstream resistance to high prices have begun to weigh on market sentiment, leaving lithium carbonate prices with some room to edge lower in the near term.

On the supply side, the timeline for mines outside China to resume production has gradually become clearer. Bald Hill, Ngungaju, and Finniss have all announced restart plans and are expected to progressively enter stable production in 3Q26-4Q26. At Sigma Lithium’s Phase 1 project in Brazil, mining-end capacity for lithium concentrate has fully recovered. In China, the scheduled resumption of production at the Jianxiawo mine in June-July still faces considerable uncertainty, while the actual contribution of Zimbabwean lithium ore arrivals to China’s spot market will still take time to verify. At the current stage, near-term supply pressure mainly stems from sentiment disruptions caused by longer-term production restart expectations, as well as the gradual inflow of previously accumulated hidden inventories into the market.

On the demand side, new LFP cathode material capacity remains in the commissioning and ramp-up stage, and the industry expects June cathode material production schedules to continue rising MoM. In the cell segment, combined production of EV and energy storage cells in May came in slightly below earlier market expectations, but June production schedules are still expected to maintain growth. Overall, revised supply expectations have weakened the price support previously provided by tightness at the mining end. However, production schedules in the midstream remain elevated, and demand fundamentals have not shown substantive weakening, leaving some buying support below current lithium carbonate prices.

Overall, after the earlier rapid rally pushed lithium carbonate prices to a cyclical high, the market’s trading focus has shifted from a single focus on tight mining-end supply to a broader reassessment of hidden inventory levels, the pace of production resumptions at mines outside China, and downstream acceptance of high prices. Meanwhile, higher-than-expected inflation data in China and the U.S., rising U.S. Treasury yields, and growing market expectations of tighter global liquidity after Kevin Warsh took office as Fed chair have weighed on overall risk appetite for commodities, further accelerating this round of lithium carbonate price correction.

After futures prices pulled back, downstream enterprises became more active in basis pricing transactions, suggesting that actual procurement demand has started to be released as prices returned to a more reasonable range. In the near term, lithium carbonate prices may still have some room to edge lower under the dual impact of revised supply expectations and limited downstream acceptance of high prices. If midstream production schedules continue to grow as expected in June, the phased support for prices after the correction will gradually strengthen.

Energy storage cells in China

Quoted prices in China’s LFP cell market have edged up in the past week. Prices for LFP prismatic cells across formats are as follows:

• 100 Ah: RMB 0.425–0.480/Wh, averaging RMB 0.453/Wh (flat)

• 280 Ah: RMB 0.345–0.410/Wh, averaging RMB 0.378/Wh (up 0.7% WoW)

• 314 Ah: RMB 0.345-0.405/Wh, averaging RMB 0.375/Wh (up 0.7% WoW)

Average prices for 280 Ah and 314 Ah energy storage cells have edged up this week, mainly driven by the narrowing and recovery of low-priced transaction ranges. During the earlier rapid rise in lithium carbonate prices, cell quotes lagged to some extent. As previous low-priced orders have gradually been fulfilled, manufacturers have stopped accepting low-priced orders under cost pressure, pushing up bottom-end transaction prices.

In addition to lithium salt costs, recent fluctuations in the electrolyte segment have had a greater impact on cell costs. After a sharp correction earlier this year, lithium hexafluorophosphate prices have rebounded from low levels since May, with the market showing a temporary tight supply. Some cell makers have already begun locking in raw material purchases in advance, further adding to short-term cost pressure. However, downstream acceptance of higher-priced cells remains relatively limited. Whether prices can continue rising will still hinge on further confirmation from end-market order growth and upstream raw material price trends.

Energy storage system (ESS) in China

Prices for electrochemical ESS in China have edged up modestly for the past week. Prices are as follows:

• DC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (2h): RMB 0.46-0.53/Wh, averaging RMB 0.50/Wh, up 1.0% WoW.

• AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (1h): RMB 0.81-0.87/Wh, averaging RMB 0.84/Wh, unchanged WoW.

• AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (2h): RMB 0.52-0.64/Wh, averaging RMB 0.58/Wh, up 0.9% WoW.

• AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (4h): RMB 0.50-0.55/Wh, averaging RMB 0.53/Wh, up 1.0% WoW.

Based on recent public tender results, ESS prices broadly remain caught in a tug-of-war between buyers and sellers. On May 22, 2026, China Datang Group announced the preferred bidders for ESS procurement under its projects in Shandong and Hebei, with a combined procurement scale of 302.5 MW/605 MWh. CRRC Zhuzhou Institute ranked first with a bid price of RMB 0.538/Wh. The second-ranked candidates were ZTT and SCETL, with corresponding bids of RMB 0.530/Wh and RMB 0.5416/Wh, respectively. These winning bid levels are largely within the current mainstream transaction range for 2h–4h ESS, indicating that after the staged increase in cell and auxiliary material costs, the room for further declines in low-end system prices has largely narrowed. However, downstream project owners remain cautious about accepting upward quote revisions. As a result, prices in the system integration segment are showing more signs of bottoming out than entering a direct trend-driven rebound.

On May 14, 2026, the National Energy Administration NEA) officially released the Outline of Quality Supervision of New Energy Storage Station Construction Project, specifying that electrochemical energy storage and compressed-air energy storage power stations on the power generation side and grid side with capacities of 100 MW and above will be included in the scope of quality supervision. The document marks a shift in China’s regulatory focus for utility-scale energy storage projects from earlier project filing and grid-connection scale control to construction quality control, engineering process supervision, and full-lifecycle operational safety.

For system integrators, industry competition will no longer be limited to equipment pricing. Product reliability, engineering delivery capabilities, full-lifecycle operation and maintenance capabilities, and safety compliance qualifications will carry increasing weight. This regulatory trend is also expected to push ESS quotes away from the previous pattern of extremely low-price destructive competition and back toward reasonable pricing based on quality and full-lifecycle costs.