For the week ending August 21, 11 of the 12 SMM computing power price indices in the West, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and Chengdu-Chongqing remained unchanged WoW, while only the H100 80G Western average price was raised by 0.66% from 76,250 yuan to 76,750 yuan per month (13.32 yuan per card-hour); the contract shot up to 77,500 yuan during the week before pulling back, and the siphoning effect of Western resources on external orders continued.

SMM August 21 News: This week, spot prices along the cobalt industry chain largely remained in the doldrums. Refined cobalt prices continued to grind lower under the influence of weak market sentiment and demand. Although import data fell short of expectations, the rebound was limited. On the cobalt salt side, cobalt sulphate prices declined for five consecutive trading days, with cost support clearly shifting downward. Quotes for primary and recycled materials continued to ease, and downstream enterprises showed a strong desire to bargain down prices. The cobalt chloride and Co3O4 markets continued their sluggish pattern... SMM compiled the price movements of cobalt products this week, as follows: side: According to SMM spot quotes, refined cobalt spot prices fell notably this week. As of August 21, refined cobalt spot prices temporarily stabilized at 300,000-310,000 yuan/mt, with the average price at 305,000 yuan/mt, down 21,500 yuan/mt from 326,500 yuan/mt on August 14, a decline of 6.58%. 》View SMM cobalt-lithium spot quotes According to SMM, the refined cobalt futures continued to grind lower this week, with the spot price center further declining. On the supply side, mid-week, affected by market expectations before the release of customs data, some funds pre-traded a significant increase in China's cobalt intermediate product imports, causing a relatively large pullback in futures. Although the final imports were lower than market forecasts, leading to a slight rebound in prices, the rebound was very limited due to the current weak demand, and prices remained at low levels. After the rapid price decline, most smelters and traders have suspended external quotes, and the market is in a wait-and-see sentiment. On the demand side, downstream enterprises are still in the summer break period, with weak purchase willingness and only maintaining small-volume restocking for essential needs. Market transaction sentiment was generally sluggish. In the short term, SMM believes that the market is still in the off-season, demand support is limited, coupled with weak market sentiment, refined cobalt prices may continue to consolidate at lows. Future attention should be paid to changes in downstream restocking pace after the summer break. Cobalt intermediate product prices side: According to SMM spot quotes, cobalt intermediate product spot quotes remained stable this week. As of August 21, cobalt intermediate product (CIF China) spot quotes temporarily stabilized at $21-22/lb, with the average price at $21.5/lb. According to SMM, the cobalt intermediate product market remained in a stalemate this week, with prices lacking transaction guidance. July customs data showed that China's cobalt intermediate product imports were 16,100 mt in physical content (about 5,000 mt in metal content), slightly below market expectations, but had limited impact on the current supply-demand pattern. Miners' tender intentions remain at $21-22/lb, while downstream psychological price levels have pulled back to $17-19/lb, with no narrowing of the price spread, and tenders continue to be unsuccessful. Some miners started adjusting strategies, considering suspending direct sales and switching to toll processing to produce refined cobalt for sale. In the short term, the tug-of-war between upstream and downstream continues. SMM expects that stabilization of cobalt intermediate product prices still awaits substantial transactions. Cobalt salt side ( and ): : According to SMM spot price quotes, spot cobalt sulphate prices also could not escape the decline this week. After falling for five consecutive trading days, spot cobalt sulphate prices fell to 72,000-75,000 yuan/mt, with the average price at 73,500 yuan/mt, down 5,000 yuan/mt from 78,500 yuan/mt on August 14, a drop of 6.37%. In the spot market, according to SMM, the cobalt sulphate market continued in the doldrums this week, with cost support further moving down, and the psychological price spread between buyers and sellers not narrowing. Supply side quotations remained divergent: primary smelters, constrained by earlier high-priced raw material inventory, maintained quotations at 75,000-80,000 yuan/mt, but the MHP cobalt coefficient has recently pulled back to around 73% discount, and the immediate production cost has dropped to about 70,000 yuan/mt, significantly weakening cost support. Some enterprises may consider selling at a discount above 70,000 yuan/mt in the future. For recycling materials, mainstream quotations were at around 93-95% of SMM low-end prices. Some enterprises with financial constraints further lowered prices to 68,000-70,000 yuan/mt, and individual low-quality cargoes were heard at around 65,000 yuan/mt. Demand side remained sluggish. Cobalt tetroxide enterprises reduced their indicative prices for low-nickel cobalt sulphate to 68,000-70,000 yuan/mt, some ternary precursor enterprises pressed indicative prices for medium-high nickel cobalt sulphate to around 65,000 yuan/mt, but the actual price spread between buyers and sellers remained large, and transactions remained limited. In the short term, SMM believes that the cobalt sulphate market is still in a bottom-seeking phase, and price stabilization still awaits the release of downstream concentrated restocking demand. side: According to SMM spot price quotes, spot cobalt chloride prices remained stable this week. As of August 21, spot cobalt chloride prices held steady at 87,000-91,000 yuan/mt, with the average price at 89,000 yuan/mt, maintaining stable operation compared to August 14. In the spot market, according to SMM, the cobalt chloride market continued its sluggish pattern this week, with actual transactions showing little improvement. On the supply side, to alleviate cash flow constraints and loss reduction pressure, some enterprises have slightly softened their offer prices to seek destocking, but downstream purchasing sentiment was weak, and the transaction growth driven by price cuts was extremely limited. Demand side, Co3O4 enterprises remained constrained by high inventory, and with no signs of recovery in end-use consumption, the procurement pace remained stagnant. In the short term, SMM expects cobalt chloride prices to continue to drift lower. side: According to SMM spot quotations, after declining in the week before last, Co3O4 spot quotes stabilized this week. As of August 21, Co3O4 spot quotes were tentatively stable at 275,000-300,000 yuan/mt, with the average price at 287,500 yuan/mt, flat from August 14. In the spot market, according to SMM, the Co3O4 market sentiment remained sluggish this week, with sporadic transactions. On the supply side, most smelters continued low-load operations under the conditions of high inventory, thin margins, and lingering concerns over inventory buildup. On the demand side, although cathode material producers made sporadic inquiries, firm orders were scarce. Existing raw material inventory was moderate enough to meet short-term production, and there was no urgency to restock. On balance, SMM expects that the broad trend of Co3O4 prices under pressure to weaken in the short term is unlikely to change. On the news front, This week, cobalt product import and export data were released. According to customs data, China's cobalt hydrometallurgy intermediate product imports in July 2026 were approximately 16,174 mt in physical content, up 48% MoM and up 17% YoY. Among them, imports from DRC were approximately 15,970 mt in physical content, up 48% MoM and up 21% YoY. The average import price of China's cobalt hydrometallurgy intermediate products in July 2026 was $17,915/mt in physical content, up 9.56% MoM. This month, about 10,046 mt in physical content of intermediate products imported from DRC entered Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces via Entrepot Trade by Customs Special Control Area, accounting for 62.9% of total imports; Ordinary Trade accounted for about 4,243 mt, or 26.6%; processing trade with imported materials accounted for about 1,681 mt, or 10.5%. In addition, China imported a total of 204 mt in physical content of intermediate products from Russia and Zambia via Ordinary Trade this month.

SMM August 21 news: This week, the rebound in lead prices drove a marginal recovery of losses for secondary lead. As of August 21, the comprehensive profit/loss of SMM large-scale secondary lead enterprises was -263 yuan/mt, and that of small and medium-scale enterprises was -443 yuan/mt. Tight supply of scrap batteries pushed up raw material costs, limiting profit recovery. Downstream has not seen a substantial peak season, with just-in-time procurement as the main method. Primary lead diverted demand, resulting in mediocre performance in spot transactions. Looking ahead to next week, lead prices are expected to consolidate at highs. If scrap battery prices follow the rise, coupled with downstream still maintaining large discounts and just-in-time procurement of secondary refined lead spot orders, SMM believes that the expectation for further narrowing of the loss range for secondary lead smelters is limited.

SMM August 21 News: This week, the scrap battery market remained stable overall, with a few smelters slightly raising their purchase quotations by 20-100 yuan/mt, mainly for EV batteries; the tight supply of scrap batteries persisted throughout the week without improvement. As the traditional "September-October peak season" approaches, the sentiment of major store operators to hold back from selling gradually intensified, with available cargo being scarce. Both recyclers and smelters reported that daily average purchase volume dropped by about 20-30% recently, and recyclers generally maintained a fast-in fast-out purchasing and sales model. On the smelter side, raw material arrivals were generally stable but showed regional divergence, with areas offering higher purchase prices seeing relatively better arrivals. As lead prices stabilized and rose, losses at secondary lead smelters narrowed, and operating rates rebounded; however, lingering losses limited the upside room for scrap battery purchase prices. Downstream lead-acid battery consumption improved somewhat but remained dominated by just-in-time procurement. Overall, scrap battery prices moved sideways this week under the influence of secondary lead losses and tight supply. Next week, scrap battery prices are expected to continue moving sideways, with focus on the extent of demand realization during the traditional "September-October peak season," the release of store supply, and the progress of the rebound in secondary lead smelter operating rates.

As of this Friday, the north China market SiMn 6517 (cash) was 5,700-5,750 yuan/mt, flat WoW from last Friday; the south China market SiMn 6517 (cash) was 5,750-5,800 yuan/mt, flat WoW from last Friday; the south China market SiMn 6014 (cash) was 5,350-5,450 yuan/mt, flat WoW from last Friday. Recently, SiMn futures have consolidated on a strong note and drifted higher, with the pessimistic sentiment fading somewhat while wait-and-see sentiment still dominates.

It is understood that as of August 20, the in-factory inventory of primary lead main delivery brands stood at 17,100 mt, down 3,800 mt WoW. This week, some primary lead smelters in Hunan, Henan, Inner Mongolia and other regions successively entered maintenance, leading to a tighter supply of lead ingots WoW. Meanwhile, lead prices drifted higher. At the beginning of the week, downstream enterprises mainly purchased as needed, causing a significant decline in inventory for some smelters, with even individual enterprises imposing limited shipments. However, during the period, some smelters also reserved lead ingots in advance due to upcoming maintenance, which to some extent slowed the pace of inventory reduction. Therefore, the decline in in-factory inventory of primary lead enterprises this week was relatively limited.