SMM

[SMM Analysis: A Review of This Week's Scrap Spot Price Trends, 2025.2.17-2025.2.20] This week, prices in the recycled scrap market rose slightly. Supply side: This week, some hydrometallurgical plants resumed normal production after last week's Lantern Festival. Although nickel salts and cobalt salts continued to decline slightly after the holiday, and lithium carbonate fluctuated, most powdering plants and traders maintained a strong stance on quotes. Taking ternary pole piece powder with high nickel coefficients as an example, most hydrometallurgical plants were willing to purchase at around 76-77, while powdering plants quoted at 79-80, resulting in a certain price gap between the two sides. Although some hydrometallurgical plants purchased small amounts of high-priced black mass to maintain low-speed operations, some had already completed most of their February raw material procurement during January stockpiling. As a result, while market transactions were relatively active compared to last week, the actual price increase was relatively small due to most enterprises' bearish outlook on subsequent salt prices and their existing inventories. Compared to February prices, most enterprises are more focused on March demand recovery and salt price trends, mainly because some recycling enterprises are expected to stockpile for production during that period, coupled with the fact that enterprises with prior stockpiling have largely consumed their inventories.