[SMM Analysis] A Review of This Week's Scrap Spot Price Trends, 2024-12.30-2025.1.3

SMM January 4 News: This week, the coefficient of ternary battery scrap in the recycled scrap market remained basically stable, while iron-lithium scrap saw a slight decline. Material side, lithium carbonate prices fluctuated downward this week, nickel salt prices were relatively stable, and cobalt salt prices slightly declined. Supply side, as the year-end approaches, battery manufacturers showed a clear sentiment to stand firm on quotes. Prices of unbroken scrap remained relatively stable. For ternary scrap, despite the fluctuations in nickel, cobalt, and lithium chemical prices, the coefficient of ternary pole pieces stayed at 75-77, basically flat compared to last week, while the battery coefficient also remained stable in the range of 70-74. Regarding iron-lithium, the continued losses between lithium chemical prices and black mass production costs led to a slight decline in iron-lithium scrap prices, with the center of lithium points in iron-lithium pole piece black mass around 2,850-2,900 yuan. Currently, with the grid connection period for ESS having passed, most enterprises are maintaining just-in-time procurement and production, showing low acceptance of high-priced black mass. In the short term, scrap prices are expected to continue fluctuating with changes in nickel, cobalt, and lithium prices.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Ying Xu 021-51666707

Yanlin Lü 021-20707875

Yujun Liu 021-20707895

Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711

He Zhang 021-20707850