On June 23, the SMM average price of battery-grade nickel sulphate declined.

On June 22, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price edged down.

As the mid-year period approaches, manufacturers are generally reluctant to build additional inventories and are instead consuming existing raw material stocks.

On June 18, GEM disclosed that its main business growth drivers include focusing on core businesses such as key metal recycling and extraction, power lithium battery recycling, and new energy material core manufacturing. In the ternary precursor business, the company focuses on expanding the high-end product market. Regarding ternary cathode materials, the company focuses on high-profit segments such as small power applications, planning shipments to exceed 35,000 tons in 2026 and 60,000 tons in 2028. At the same time, the company is actively positioning itself in next-generation battery material technologies. High-nickel, ultra-high-nickel ternary cathode materials, and lithium-rich manganese-based cathode materials are considered the mainstream research directions for future solid-state batteries. The company has teamed up with Ningbo Eastern University of Technology and the academician team of Sun Xueliang to promote the industrialization of related technologies.

This week, ternary cathode precursor prices weakened somewhat, nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices edged lower, while manganese sulphate prices remained stable.

Mid-Month Market Transactions Sluggish, Nickel Salt Prices Slightly Declined This Week As of this Thursday, the SMM average price of battery-grade nickel sulphate declined. Demand side, with it being mid-month and approaching the mid-report period, the downstream sector primarily consumed inventory, stockpiling sentiment was weak, and acceptance of nickel salt prices was relatively low. Supply side, as MHP payables and auxiliary material prices remained high, some producers faced elevated immediate costs, and nickel salt quoted prices stayed high. Looking ahead, expectations of tight nickel sulphate raw material supply have not yet improved, and attention must be paid to the cost support strength of nickel prices and intermediate products for nickel salt prices. Inventory side, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index declined from 8.7 days to 8.5 days, the downstream precursor plant inventory index slid from 11.2 days to 10.9 days, and the integrated enterprise inventory index rose from 6.8 days to 7.0 days. In terms of buying and selling strength, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor remained at 1.8, the downstream precursor plant procurement sentiment factor remained at 2.5, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor remained at 2.4. (Historical data can be queried in the database.) Nickel prices rebounded somewhat, and nickel salt costs recovered. From the cost side, MHP raw material market circulation was tight. Affected by the combined impact of intermediate product production cuts caused by sulphur shortages and downstream ternary just-in-time procurement, MHP payables fluctuated at highs this week. On the nickel price front, the US-Iran situation released signals of reconciliation, market expectations of interest rate hikes faded somewhat, and the previously oversold nickel prices rebounded somewhat this week. Overall, for the week, nickel prices rebounded, MHP payables remained stable, and the immediate cost of nickel salt production rose WoW.

On June 18, the average price of SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate edged down slightly.

On June 17, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price remained stable.

While upstream MHP payables stayed high, auxiliary material prices such as sulphur and sulphuric acid continued to climb, and downstream ternary production schedules remained at high levels, the performance of battery-grade nickel sulphate prices was not optimistic. SMM believes this was driven by multiple factors, including weakening cost support, front-loaded downstream stockpiling, increased import supplementation, and higher volumes of nickel sulphate converted from refined nickel.

Recently, the Jingmen Municipal Government Service and Big Data Administration released filing information that the annual 100,000 mt high-compaction density LFP project of Jingmen Jinquan New Materials Co., Ltd. has completed filing registration. The project has a total investment of 1 billion yuan, is planned to start construction in October 2026, and has a total building area of 60,000 m². It will be constructed in two phases, covering raw material storage and feeding workshops, grinding and spray-drying workshops, sintering workshops, crushing and packaging workshops, product warehouses, nitrogen production workshops, boiler rooms, and supporting environmental protection facilities. Upon completion, it will achieve an annual capacity of 100,000 mt of high-compaction density LFP. Targeting high-compaction density (≥2.6 g/cm³) LFP, the project aims to enhance battery cell energy density and fast charging performance, primarily serving EVE's own battery cell production lines and nearby leading clients. Leveraging Jingmen's national-level lithium battery industry cluster, it forms a closed loop of "phosphate ore → precursor → high-compaction density LFP → battery cell → recycling," with nearby support reducing logistics and raw material costs.