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| Author | InfoLink |
| Updated | September 09, 2026 |
Lithium ore and lithium salt
Over the past week, prices for both spodumene concentrate and battery-grade lithium carbonate have declined.
- Battery-grade lithium carbonate (spot)
Price range: RMB 141,000–147,000/MT
Average price: RMB 144,000/MT
Down 5.3% WoW - Spodumene concentrate (SC6, CIF)
Price range: USD 2,080–2,180/MT
Average price: USD 2,130/MT
Down 2.7% WoW
Lithium carbonate prices have retreated this week, mainly due to adjustments to inventory statistics, cooling futures-market sentiment, and expectations of recovering supply as shipments from Zimbabwe gradually arrive. Following the price decline, some downstream restocking has emerged at lower price levels, though procurement remains largely need-based, with no significant weakening in the spot market. Overall, the latest pullback has been driven more by changing supply expectations and shifts in market sentiment than by a rapid deterioration in demand.
On the supply side, the pace of incremental supply from Jiangxi remains to be seen following the withdrawal of the proposed acceptance notice for the Jianxiawo environmental impact assessment (EIA). Other mines in Jiangxi are also gradually suspending production to renew their permits; disruptions to mine supply have not been fully resolved heading into Q4. For supply from outside China, the gradual arrival of shipments from Zimbabwe has lifted China’s lithium ore inventories. Additional spodumene supply is expected to gradually translate into higher lithium salt production, though intermittent disruptions persist in resource supply from Chile, Brazil, and other non-China markets, suggesting that the supply recovery will not be entirely linear.
On the demand side, Chinese manufacturers’ restocking ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays in September, production schedules for EV batteries, and ESS cell deliveries continue to support lithium carbonate demand. Market inventories continue to decline, while tight spot availability is also keeping the basis relatively firm. In the near term, lithium carbonate prices are expected to remain range-bound. Once the impact of adjustments to inventory statistics is absorbed, spot transactions and a firm basis should continue to provide support at the lower end of the price range. However, with Zimbabwean supply arriving, lithium salt production recovering, and longer-term demand expectations remaining subdued, the fundamentals are still insufficient to support a sustained, sharp price increase.
Energy storage cells in China
Over the past week, transaction prices for China’s LFP energy storage cells have remained stable overall as follows:
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100 Ah: RMB 0.400–0.480/Wh, averaging RMB 0.440/Wh (flat WoW)
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280 Ah: RMB 0.340–0.390/Wh, averaging RMB 0.365/Wh (flat WoW)
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314 Ah: RMB 0.340–0.390/Wh, averaging RMB 0.365/Wh (flat WoW)
Although lithium carbonate prices pulled back during the week, the earlier rise in raw material prices continues to provide lagged cost support for cells. Coupled with a steady pace of energy storage order deliveries, cell prices have not softened in tandem with raw material prices. Prices for 100 Ah cells remain relatively inflexible, constrained by residential storage channel inventories and forward demand expectations. Mainstream utility-scale storage formats such as 280 Ah and 314 Ah cells, on the other hand, remain stable at low levels, supported by project deliveries.
In terms of order momentum, the cell segment continues to see some near-term support. Utility-scale storage projects are entering a period of concentrated deliveries, with relatively good order visibility for mainstream cell formats, while manufacturers have become less willing than before to sell at low prices. Meanwhile, China’s consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries has entered implementation in September. Some battery manufacturers have sought to pass more of the additional tax burden on to customers through price-adjustment notices, supplemental agreements, or terms for newly signed orders, providing some support for pricing on undelivered and future orders.
Nevertheless, longer-term supply expectations for energy storage cells remain ample, and large customers continue to retain bargaining power. Manufacturers therefore still need to strike a balance among securing orders, maintaining customer relationships, and passing through higher costs. Energy storage cell prices are expected to remain largely stable in the near term. If lithium salt prices continue to decline, there may still be room to renegotiate pricing for longer-term orders. However, with peak-season deliveries and tax-related costs providing support, a sharp decline in prices for mainstream cell formats also appears relatively unlikely.
Energy storage system (ESS) in China
For the past week, transaction prices for electrochemical ESS in China have remained stable. Prices are as follows:
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DC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (2h): RMB 0.45–0.53/Wh, averaging RMB 0.49/Wh (flat WoW)
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AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (1h): RMB 0.81-0.87/Wh, averaging RMB 0.84/Wh (flat)
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AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (2h): RMB 0.52-0.63/Wh, averaging RMB 0.58/Wh (flat)
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AC-side liquid-cooled containerized ESS (4h): RMB 0.50-0.55/Wh, averaging RMB 0.53/Wh (flat)
ESS prices have yet to see a noticeable impact from the recent pullback in lithium salt prices, mainly because ESS cell transaction prices remain broadly stable and system prices are also constrained by other factors, including power conversion systems (PCS), transformers, energy management systems (EMS), battery management systems (BMS), thermal management, fire protection, grid-connection commissioning, warranties, and delivery responsibilities. With ESS prices already at low levels, integrators have limited room to further reduce equipment prices. Project competition is therefore increasingly determined by a combination of cost control, configuration completeness, grid-connection compatibility, and execution capability.
Recent tender and award results for ESS projects indicate that hybrid technology configurations are being adopted more frequently in actual projects. In addition to conventional LFP solutions, some projects are beginning to incorporate technologies such as vanadium redox flow batteries and supercapacitors, creating hybrid configurations that combine LFP with differentiated technologies. For example, the 100 MW/202 MWh shared energy storage project in Zouping, Shandong, adopts a hybrid configuration combining LFP and vanadium redox flow batteries, while the 200 MW/362 MWh standalone hybrid energy storage project in Jincheng, Shanxi, combines LFP with supercapacitors. The 820 MW/3,280 MWh energy storage project at the renewable energy base in the coal-mining subsidence area of northern Shanxi also reflects the accelerating development of large-capacity, long-duration projects.
As most of these projects are priced on an EPC or other general contracting basis, covering design, equipment procurement, civil works and installation, commissioning and grid connection, trial operation, acceptance, warranty services, and other items, their prices are not directly comparable with those for system equipment alone. From an industry perspective, however, ESS integration is shifting from standardized battery-container supply toward competition in long-duration energy storage (LDES), hybrid technology configurations, and engineering delivery capabilities. For integrators, competition will increasingly extend beyond equipment prices to system-level integration capabilities spanning different battery chemistries, PCS/EMS coordination, grid-related testing, thermal-management, fire-protection solutions, and long-term operation and maintenance responsibilities.
In addition, power supply for AI data centers (AIDCs) and coordination between computing power and electricity have emerged as new areas of discussion for the energy storage industry in early September. The 2026 Open Data Center Conference and inaugural Computing Power Expo were held in Beijing from September 2 to 4, with discussions focusing on computing infrastructure, green and low-carbon computing, liquid cooling, power supply and distribution architecture, and coordination between computing power and electricity. As high-density computing loads increase rapidly, data centers are placing greater demands on power supply reliability, green power utilization, reserve capacity, and dynamic regulation capabilities. Accordingly, the value of ESS is expanding beyond conventional storage paired with renewable energy projects to campus-level energy management and highly reliable power supply applications for AI data centers.
In the near term, energy storage deployment at AI data centers may not directly alter the low-price competition prevailing in China’s utility-scale storage market, but it will prompt some projects to place greater emphasis on PCS/EMS coordination, load forecasting, reserve capacity configuration, grid support, and long-term operation and maintenance capabilities. If computing centers become more closely integrated with green power, energy storage, virtual power plants (VPP), and other models, price differentiation among ESS may widen further. Standardized utility-scale storage projects will remain primarily cost-driven, while applications requiring highly reliable power supply and coordination between computing power and electricity will place greater emphasis on system solutions and operational quality.