Hydrometallurgical Recycling Market This Week:
Market Background and Reasons
Last week's announcement of import and export restrictions in the Congo (DRC) has led to a continuous increase in cobalt sulfate prices. However, due to insufficient short-term demand support, the price increase has been relatively limited. Nickel sulfate prices have remained essentially stable, while lithium carbonate prices have shown a slight rebound and are fluctuating.
Product Price Status
This Wednesday, the coefficients for ternary and lithium cobalt oxide black powders remained unchanged. Currently, the lithium price for lithium iron phosphate electrode sheet black powder is 2,150–2,300 yuan per lithium unit, and for lithium iron phosphate battery black powder, it is 1,950–2,100 yuan per lithium unit. Taking ternary black powder as an example, the current nickel-cobalt coefficient for ternary electrode sheet black powder is 72–74%, with the lithium coefficient at 66–70%. For ternary battery black powder, the nickel-cobalt coefficient is 70–72%, and prices have remained essentially flat compared to last week.
Market Demand and Supply Situation
On the demand side for ternary hydrometallurgy, most ternary hydrometallurgy plants have kept their purchase volumes stable this month, only consuming basic inventory. Due to the market's pessimistic outlook on future lithium salt prices, they are cautious about purchasing black powder, resulting in a sluggish market. On the supply side for lithium iron phosphate hydrometallurgy, most lithium iron phosphate hydrometallurgy plants are semi-shut down, only doing some contract manufacturing without external procurement. Suppliers' psychological selling prices have eased somewhat with the continuous decline in salt prices, and black powder prices have been falling with salt prices, leading to a sluggish market. On the cost side, most hydrometallurgy plants, except for the top-tier integrated ones, are still operating below the profit-break-even line, especially lithium iron phosphate hydrometallurgy plants, which are significantly affected by the decline in lithium salt prices. The black-powder-processing end's profits are slightly better than the hydrometallurgy end's, but some small and medium-sized plants' black-powder-processing profits are also continuously in the red.
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