SMM, April 27:
Current situation of hydrometallurgy recycling this week:
Supply side: This week, prices of salt products such as lithium chemicals, nickel salts, and cobalt salts have generally declined slightly. This week, the coefficients for black mass of ternary materials and LCO have remained basically stable. Taking ternary black mass as an example: Currently, the coefficient for black mass from ternary pole pieces is 75-78%, and for black mass from ternary batteries, it is 72-75%. On the supply side, the psychological selling prices of grinding mills and traders have decreased with the decline in salt prices. However, some grinding mills still choose to hold back from selling due to their current profits being below the surplus line, opting to wait for market conditions to improve. Market transactions have been sluggish compared to March. On the demand side, most hydrometallurgy plants are only making just-in-time procurement of black mass amid the continuous decline in nickel, cobalt, and lithium salt prices. Additionally, due to the market's pessimistic outlook on subsequent lithium salt prices, they are only maintaining a safety stock of raw materials for about one month. Cost side, currently, except for leading integrated hydrometallurgy plants, the profits of most hydrometallurgy plants remain below the surplus line. The profits of grinding mills are slightly better than those of hydrometallurgy plants. However, due to the previous decline in copper cathode prices, the profits of grinding mills have also continued to be inverted.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Xu Ying 021-51666707
Lv Yanlin 021-20707875
Liu Yujun 021-20707895
Yu Xiaodan 021-20707870
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
Zhang He 021-20707850
