China’s lithium-battery sector has moved into the battery-cell segment: several
leading suppliers have recently lifted product prices and smaller battery makers
have followed, accelerating a new wave of battery-price increases. Interviews
indicate the cell-price rise partly reflects higher costs from an adjustment to
the battery consumption tax, while the deeper driver is a shift in industry
supply-demand dynamics. Although producers broadly intend to pass on costs,
execution is uneven; industry participants say the repricing is effectively a
stress test that could prompt consolidation, force steep cost cuts and
efficiency gains, and push competition toward vertical integration, higher-end
products and globalization.
