On February 4, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price was 31,976 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate between 31,700-32,800 yuan/mt; the average price was flat from the previous day.
Cost side, nickel prices rebounded slightly today after the previous oversold decline, but the immediate production cost of nickel sulphate still pulled back MoM. Supply side, some nickel salt producers continued to hold prices firm due to expectations of rising raw material costs, while others had suspended quotations ahead of the Chinese New Year, with relatively weak willingness to sell. Demand side, some producers had already stocked up on raw materials for the holiday and adopted a wait-and-see approach amid highly volatile nickel prices, showing weak acceptance of high-priced nickel sulphate. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters was 1.8, the Purchasing Sentiment Factor for downstream precursor plants was 2.6, and the Sentiment Factor for integrated enterprises was 2.4 (historical data is available in the database).
Looking ahead, if nickel prices decline further, the cost support for nickel sulphate prices may weaken.
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