[SMM Analysis] Cost Support Gradually Weakens, Nickel Salt Prices Decline This Week

Published: Sep 30, 2026 10:46 (GMT+8)

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As of Wednesday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate average price declined.

Demand side, with the National Day holiday approaching, enterprises have largely completed their pre-holiday raw material stocking, and transportation of new raw materials is about to be disrupted. Downstream players overall continued to hold off on spot purchases. In addition, some downstream production schedules were reduced, leading to weaker raw material demand and low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Supply side, some upstream enterprises are holding relatively high inventory levels and plan to lower operating rates and seek shipments to destock, but the overall scale of production cuts is smaller than the expected demand reduction. Looking ahead, the market is expected to maintain a weak supply-demand balance in the short term, with destocking as the main theme, and prices are expected to remain under pressure overall.

Inventory-wise, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index declined from 8 days to 7.8 days, the downstream precursor plant inventory index fell from 11.6 days to 11.4 days, and the integrated enterprise inventory index rose from 9.8 days to 10.1 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 slipped from 2.1 to 2.0, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor held at 2.2. (Historical data can be accessed via the database.)

Nickel Prices Plunge Sharply, Nickel Salt Costs Decline

Cost side, MHP raw material supply remains relatively ample, and coupled with weak acceptance from downstream salt smelters, MHP payables weakened further this week. On nickel prices, oil prices and US Treasury yields surged significantly this week, putting nonferrous metals back under pressure from rate hike expectations, and nickel prices fell sharply. For the week overall, nickel prices weakened, MHP payables were soft, and the spot production cost of nickel salt declined WoW.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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