SMM

The SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index reached 26,082 yuan/mt on January 4, remaining unchanged WoW. Quotes of battery-grade nickel sulphate were 26,100-26,600 yuan/mt, remaining unchanged WoW. Nickel sulphate prices remained stable last week. From the supply side, there wasn’t much change WoW. December saw a notable production cut and year-end sales of low-priced stocks, leading to a limited supply of goods. Last week saw a further narrowing of the price gap between nickel sulphate and pure nickel. Refined nickel production using externally sourced nickel sulphate is experiencing losses. Currently, there is no demand for nickel sulphate for refined nickel production. Ternary precursor enterprises are frontloading February demand in January, with sporadic restocking emerging last week. The current transaction coefficient remains around 94-95%. Due to the overall weak demand in the ternary precursor market, nickel sulphate prices are struggling to rebound. Although there is increased inquiry in the market after the New Year’s Day, downstream buyers remain cautious about purchasing nickel sulphate. The weak supply and demand has not shown significant improvement yet. Looking ahead, with the ternary precursor orders unlikely to see a clear improvement in January, nickel sulphate prices are under pressure to rise. It is anticipated that nickel sulphate prices will remain stable this week.