SMM

[SMM Analysis] A Review of This Week's Scrap Spot Price Trends, 2025.3.10-2025.3.13 Hydrometallurgical Recycling This Week: Supply side: This week, with the continuous rise in nickel salt and cobalt salt prices, the prices of ternary and LCO black mass also continued to increase, prompting crushing plants and traders to further raise their psychological price levels. Additionally, as salt prices kept climbing, the coefficients for ternary and LCO black mass also rose slightly. Taking LCO pole piece black mass as an example, the current coefficient stands at approximately 77-79%, with an average coefficient of 78%. On the supply side, scrap LCO battery accounts for a relatively small share of the overall scrap market, with scarce supply. Most of the limited stock is concentrated in the hands of traders, and with the continuous surge in cobalt salt prices, companies tend to hold back from selling or release small quantities at high prices. Demand side: Most downstream players are not optimistic about the continued rise in cobalt salt prices. Additionally, there are relatively fewer enterprises focusing on pure cobalt scrap compared to ternary. Given the option to choose ternary black mass, most companies adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward the rising coefficients of pure cobalt scrap. However, there are still small quantities of scrap being sold at high prices in the market, leading to a slight increase in scrap prices. Cost side: The recent rise in cobalt salt and nickel salt prices has, to some extent, repaired the costs and profitability of the crushing end for ternary and pure cobalt scrap, pushing the costs of some uncrushed materials above the breakeven point. However, the price of iron-lithium scrap remains under losses due to the continued decline in lithium carbonate prices.