[SMM Nickel Sulphate Daily Review] February 26: Nickel Salt Prices Slightly Rise Amid Raw Material Cost Fluctuations

On February 26, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price was 31,813 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 31,570-33,000 yuan/mt. The average price saw a slight increase from yesterday.

Cost side, recent nickel prices have risen compared to pre-holiday levels due to the impact of tailings landslides in Indonesian industrial parks, driving up the immediate production costs of nickel sulphate; Supply side, post-holiday, the willingness to sell among nickel salt smelters has improved, and quotations have increased due to expectations of rising raw material costs; Demand side, some producers have started purchasing March raw materials, while others have not yet fully consumed their pre-holiday inventories and are still observing the highly volatile market. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters is 1.8, for downstream precursor manufacturers it is 2.6, and for integrated enterprises, it is 2.3 (historical data can be queried in the database).

Looking ahead, post-holiday market sentiment for buying and selling has slightly rebounded, but attention should also be paid to how nickel prices and intermediate product supply will support nickel sulphate prices from the cost side.

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