SMM January 9 News:
This week, the recycled scrap market prices fluctuated. Supply side: This week, lithium carbonate and cobalt sulphate prices remained basically stable, while nickel sulphate prices rose slightly due to tight supply and continued destocking, though the upward space was relatively limited. Most small and medium-sized hydrometallurgical plants faced persistent scrap price inversions combined with relatively small year-end scrap price fluctuations, making it difficult to see any market activity. Some are expected to take an early holiday before the Chinese New Year, while leading large plants maintained normal production but generally refrained from significant stockpiling. Demand side: Most hydrometallurgical enterprises had completed their pre-year-end stockpiling activities by the end of December. Approaching year-end, most enterprises preferred to maintain low throughput operations and showed weak acceptance of high-priced black mass. This week, buyers and sellers remained in a relatively stalemated pricing situation, with sluggish transaction activity. Currently, as the Chinese New Year approaches, most enterprises have low willingness to ship or purchase. In the short term, black mass prices are expected to continue fluctuating along with nickel, cobalt, and lithium salt prices, while the black mass coefficient is expected to remain temporarily stable due to weak supply and demand.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Cong Wang 021-51666838
Rui Ma 021-51595780
Disheng Feng 021-51666714
Ying Xu 021-51666707
Yanlin Lü 021-20707875
Yujun Liu 021-20707895
Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870
Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711
He Zhang 021-20707850
