On August 5, the SMM average price for battery-grade nickel sulphate dipped slightly.
Cost side, nickel prices pulled back somewhat due to market nickel ore news combined with Middle East peace talk expectations, leading to lower spot production costs for nickel sulphate; Supply side, the tight supply situation for intermediate products remained unchanged, MHP payables and prices of auxiliary materials such as sulphuric acid stayed high, and some enterprises showed a willingness to hold prices firm amid the nickel price rebound; Demand side, downstream enterprises relied mainly on long-term contract supply recently, with weak sentiment for building spot order inventories, leading to relatively low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters stood at 1.8, the Purchasing Sentiment Factor for downstream precursor plants stood at 2.6, and the Sentiment Factor for integrated enterprises stood at 2.5 (historical data can be accessed by logging into the database).
Looking ahead, spot order market activity is expected to be weak in the short term, and nickel sulphate prices are likely to remain under pressure overall.
[For more content, please subscribe to SMM Nickel Research Group's products "China Nickel-Chrome-Stainless Steel Industry Chain Regular Report" and "China Nickel-Chrome-Stainless Steel Industry Chain High-End Report", to access the latest data analysis and market interpretation on nickel ore, NPI (China + Indonesia), refined nickel, nickel sulphate, chrome ore, ferrochrome, and stainless steel (China + Indonesia). ]
![[SMM Nickel Midday Review] On August 5, nickel prices plunged again, while Iran is still negotiating with Oman over the Strait of Hormuz.](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/KFwsY20251217171734.jpg)
