SMM

After the National Day holiday, prices of cobalt sulphate and other salt products continued to rise this week. However, as the holiday just ended, most recycling enterprises did not provide quotes this week. Due to the significant increase in cobalt salt prices, the black mass payables for ternary and LCO both rose slightly. The prices per % lithium for LFP black mass remained stable this week. Taking LFP pole piece black mass as an example, the current price range is 2,650-2,800 yuan/mtu. For ternary black mass, the nickel and cobalt payable indicator currently stands at 74-75.5%, up 0.5% WoW, while the lithium payables are in the range of 69-72%, basically flat WoW. On the profit side, producing lithium carbonate from externally purchased LFP black mass currently continues to incur losses, with profit margins ranging from -5% to -6%. Except for several newly commissioned LFP battery hydrometallurgy recycling plants this year, most LFP recycling enterprises have production lines capable of producing lithium carbonate from other raw materials. Therefore, even as lithium carbonate prices improved, most companies chose to halt procurement and production when facing losses. The situation is similar in the ternary hydrometallurgy sector, where profits hover around 1-3%. The LCO hydrometallurgy sector performs slightly better than LFP and ternary enterprises, with profits around 3%. Moreover, as cobalt salt prices surged, profits in both ternary and LCO sectors rebounded further. Supply side, after the rise in nickel, cobalt, and lithium prices, upstream recycling enterprises quickly followed suit by increasing prices for LCO batteries, LFP batteries, and pole pieces. Black mass prices also rose to some extent. However, demand side, as this round of lithium carbonate price increases is linked to factors such as China-US trade and coking coal, most enterprises remain cautious amid losses, with many LFP battery hydrometallurgy recycling plants maintaining toll processing for business clients.