FUNTI's daily electric motorcycle market brief for October 16, 2026: raw material prices, overseas market regulation and China export data, compiled from public sources for importers, distributors and fleet operators.
FUNTI MARKET INTELLIGENCE · October 16, 2026
① Today's Highlights
- Canton Fair three-wheeler session opens this afternoon: the Suining e-tricycle industry promotion session runs today from 14:00 to 15:00 at the Central Promenade display area of the Canton Fair complex in Guangzhou, with six leading manufacturers taking part (most holding national Class-1 e-motorcycle production qualifications) whose products already sell into Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, with test rides and signing sessions on site (Cover News/Suining Municipal Bureau of Commerce, 2026-10-11). Takeaway: today is day two of the Canton Fair and there is a ready-made matchmaking session on the three-wheeler track — sending someone on site beats emailing after the show.
- Export-licence application countdown: the local preliminary-review deadline for the 2027 vehicle and motorcycle export licence application is 26 October, only 10 days away; the filing system opened on 29 September 2025 and pure-electric passenger cars (HS 8703801090) have been subject to export licensing since 1 January 2026 (MOFCOM, 2025-09-27) (reported on 12 October; the new development is that only 10 days remain before the preliminary-review deadline, so companies with incomplete files must act this week). Takeaway: with ten days left, this week is the last window to complete the paperwork.
② Raw Materials & FX
- FX: Bank of China's 16 October quotes show USD spot buying at 668.13, spot selling at 670.94 and BOC conversion at 672.53 (RMB per 100 USD), with EUR spot selling at 753.33; the latest verifiable official central parity is 6.7253 on 15 October, up 4 basis points from the previous session (Bank of China/CFETS, 2026-10-15 to 10-16). Takeaway: the renminbi remains slightly firm, which is mildly unfavourable for USD settlement and export pricing; keep USD order calculations within the 6.70—6.73 band and mark every client quote "subject to the central parity on the day".
- Flagged move · lithium carbonate spot catches up and industrial grade drops below RMB 100,000: Mysteel on 15 October put industrial-grade lithium carbonate at RMB 99,500—103,000/t, down RMB 3,750 (about −3.5%) from the previous working day; the MMLC battery-grade early-session mid-price was RMB 104,000/t, down RMB 3,000 from 16:30 the previous day (Mysteel/Shanghai Metals Market, 2026-10-15) (reported on 15 October; the new development is that the spot side has confirmed the catch-up decline and industrial grade has moved below RMB 100,000/t). Cost impact: taking the latest recalculation baseline (`reports/电池成本重算_20261013.md`, battery-grade spot at RMB 115,400/t on 12 October) as the starting point, spot has now fallen about RMB 11,400/t to RMB 104,000/t on 15 October, equal to roughly −0.0068 to −0.0091 RMB/Wh of cell cost — for our 72V range about RMB −13~−18 per 27Ah pack, RMB −21~−28 per 42Ah pack and RMB −33~−44 per 67Ah pack (about −0.9% to −1.8%). Action: lock long-term contracts in tranches below RMB 100,000/t (one quarter to one third of quarterly volume per tranche) and keep a "subject to market" or staged pricing clause for the battery line; do not lock a full quarter at once.
- Copper and aluminium: on 15 October the spot-to-SHFE-front-month copper basis on Shanghai Metals Market widened to RMB 1,585/t (+RMB 1,045 from the previous session, a 1.45% basis rate); LME copper stocks stood at 228,000 t on 14 October, down 1,650 t from the prior 229,650 t; on 15 October Guangdong Nanshu aluminium was RMB 23,300/t (−390) and Shanghai spot aluminium RMB 23,270/t (−360), while domestic aluminium inventories fell week on week (Shanghai Metals Market/SMM/cnal.com, 2026-10-14 to 10-15). Cost impact: a wider copper spot premium plus destocking of overseas inventories keeps cost support firm for harness and motor copper (copper is 50%~60% of main-harness cost and 20%~30% of motor enamel wire), so do not lock everything at once; with both aluminium prices and inventories falling, frame, wheel and housing costs ease slightly (aluminium is 10%~15%). Action: buy copper in tranches without fixing prices; negotiate aluminium parts at prevailing prices.
- Steel, silicon steel and rare earths: no new quotes for steel, silicon steel, NdFeB rare earths, LiPF6 or separators were obtained for 16 October (public information, 2026-10-16). Takeaway: frame, structural parts and motor stator costs are held at last week's basis; sensitivity note: silicon steel is 25%~35% of motor cost, NdFeB over 30% of permanent-magnet motor cost and LiPF6 over 60% of electrolyte cost, so long-cycle contracts must retain a raw-material price-adjustment clause.
③ Overseas Markets
- Exhibition window: the 14th EV Philippines (EVAP 2026) will be held on 22–24 October at the SMX Convention Center in Manila, hosted by the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) (exhibition information, 2026-03) (schedule reported on 14 October; the new development is that with only 6 days to go, the certification pack and prototype configuration list must be finalised this week). Takeaway: the island market is Southeast Asia's next customer-acquisition window, and late document submission will directly eat into first-day meeting time.
- Emerging-market FX cross-rates: in Bank of China's 16 October quotes, THB spot selling is 20.07, VND conversion 0.0259, PHP spot selling 10.72, MXN spot selling 36.64 and BRL conversion 132.65 (Bank of China, 2026-10-16). Takeaway: client quotes can use this set of rates directly for local-currency conversion, so buyers cannot press prices using third-party rates.
FUNTI · Taizhou Fangxiang Technology Co., Ltd.
Daily electric motorcycle market brief for importers, distributors and fleet operators. Figures are compiled from public market sources and industry associations; verify before commercial use.
