[SMM Analysis] Pre-holiday Market Trading Sparse, Nickel Salt Prices Decline This Week

Pre-holiday Market Trading Sparse, Nickel Salt Prices Decline This Week

As of this Thursday, the SMM average price of battery-grade nickel sulphate declined.
Demand side, with the Mid-Autumn Festival approaching, enterprises maintaining operations had largely completed raw material stocking for the holiday period, and new raw material transportation was about to be disrupted. Downstream players broadly suspended spot purchases and showed low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Supply side, some upstream enterprises held relatively high inventory levels and planned to lower operating rates to sell and destock, but the overall scale of production cuts was weaker than the expected reduction in demand. Looking ahead, the market is expected to maintain a weak supply-demand pattern in the short term, with destocking as the main theme, and prices are expected to remain under pressure overall.
Inventory side, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index held at 8 days, the downstream precursor plant inventory index fell from 11.9 days to 11.6 days, and the integrated enterprise inventory index held at 9.8 days. In terms of buying and selling strength, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor held at 2.1, the downstream precursor plant purchasing sentiment factor held at 2.1, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor held at 2.2. (Historical data can be queried in the database)

Nickel Prices Strengthen, Nickel Salt Costs Rebound

Cost side, MHP raw material supply remained relatively ample, and coupled with weak acceptance from downstream salt smelters, MHP payables weakened further this week. On nickel prices, production cuts at some Indonesian nickel iron operations stimulated a rebound in nickel prices. For the week overall, nickel prices strengthened while MHP payables remained weak, and the spot production cost of nickel salt rebounded WoW.