SMM January 23 News:
This week, the recycled scrap market prices fluctuated. Supply side: This week, the prices of nickel sulphate, cobalt sulphate, lithium carbonate, and other salts remained basically stable. As the Chinese New Year approaches, most enterprises have gradually started their holidays. Among them, small and medium-sized grinding plants and traders began their holidays earlier, expected to resume work after the Lantern Festival, while leading hydrometallurgical plants adhered to the principle of continuous production without holidays. They had mostly prepared sufficient safety inventory 1-2 weeks before the Chinese New Year, with limited purchases at this stage. Demand side: Most hydrometallurgical enterprises had completed their pre-holiday stockpiling activities by the end of December. As year-end approaches, most enterprises preferred to consume excess black mass inventory or conduct equipment maintenance, showing weak acceptance of high-priced black mass. This week, logistics in some regions began to halt operations, and market transactions were sluggish. Currently, as the Chinese New Year draws closer, most enterprises have low willingness to ship or purchase. In the short term, black mass prices are expected to remain temporarily stable, following the price trends of nickel, cobalt, and lithium salts. Meanwhile, 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
