[SMM Nickel Sulphate Daily Review] July 2: Sluggish Market Transactions, Nickel Salt Prices Fall

On July 2, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price declined slightly.

On the cost side, interest rate hike expectations continued to pressure the nonferrous metals market, coupled with its own inventory buildup pressure, nickel prices consolidated weakly recently, and spot production costs for nickel sulphate fell notably. On the supply side, the tight supply of intermediate products remained unchanged, with MHP payables and auxiliary material prices such as sulphuric acid still high. Nickel salt smelters kept their offers high, but some enterprises released low-cost inventories. On the demand side, as nickel prices had not yet stabilized and some downstream enterprises accumulated certain inventories, downstream stockpiling sentiment was weak, and their acceptance of nickel salt prices was relatively low. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters was 1.8, that for downstream precursor plants was 2.5, and that for integrated enterprises was 2.4 (historical data can be accessed via the database).

Looking ahead, the stockpiling period in July is expected to be postponed to late July. Attention should be paid to the impact of nickel prices and intermediate products on cost support.

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