[SMM Analysis] Hydrometallurgy Recycling Market This Week: LFP Black Mass Prices Continued to Decline, Market Purchase on Demand, 2026.5.18-2026.5.21

SMM May 21 update:

Raw material side, lithium carbonate oscillated at high levels this week, while nickel salt and cobalt salt prices both edged down.

This week, by material type (ternary, LCO, and LFP): LFP hydrometallurgy side — taking LFP electrode black mass as an example, current LFP electrode black mass prices stood at 8,200-8,600 yuan/mtu, with prices declining WoW from Thursday's transactions. As lithium carbonate futures and spot prices continued to fall this week due to supply-side disruptions and other factors, LFP black mass prices also continued to decline. Moreover, as some LFP recycling enterprises increasingly tied their pricing to futures prices, market reactions became more sensitive. Ternary and LCO side: ternary black mass lithium payables edged down slightly, with the market basically making purchases on demand. Additionally, rising costs of auxiliary materials such as sulphuric acid and sulphur were quickly passed through to the hydrometallurgy processing side, with processing fees for different material types all increasing. Under cost pressure and declining salt prices, market prices were more likely to fall than rise. Pure cobalt and high-cobalt scrap coefficients remained stable. The market was not at a just-in-time procurement period, as downstream hydrometallurgy enterprises had sufficient inventory and demand was sluggish, with prices holding steady.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lü Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711