This week, nickel salt prices rose slightly, and nickel salt smelters maintained a strong sentiment to stand firm on quotes.
As of Thursday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price stood at 26,583 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate between 26,380 and 27,060 yuan/mt. The average price rose slightly compared to last week.
Demand side, due to weak orders and the impact of the Chinese New Year holiday, the production schedule of precursors in February was adjusted downward, leading to weaker demand for nickel sulphate. Additionally, some precursor manufacturers have completed basic restocking but still have restocking needs. Post-holiday, the volume of inquiries in the market rebounded compared to pre-holiday levels. Supply side, the production schedule of nickel salt smelters also declined this month. This week, some nickel salt smelters have started quoting and negotiating, while others have not yet resumed operations. Considering the current losses faced by nickel salt smelters, the industry generally maintained firm prices, with no signs of concessions in pricing. Therefore, given the simultaneous weakening of supply and demand in the nickel sulphate market, prices are expected to remain stable in the near term.
This week, the cost support for nickel sulphate weakened.
From a cost perspective, the spot market for high-grade nickel matte and MHP was relatively quiet this week, with price coefficients remaining stable. During the Chinese New Year holiday, LME nickel prices continued to decline but rebounded later due to macroeconomic policies in the Philippines, though they remained below pre-holiday levels. As a result, the spot production costs of MHP and high-grade nickel matte decreased. Currently, producing nickel sulphate using MHP and nickel slag still faces varying degrees of losses, while producing nickel sulphate using high-grade nickel matte has achieved profitability.
According to spot profit data as of Thursday this week, the profit margin for producing nickel sulphate using nickel slag was -2.9%, using MHP was -0.4%, and using high-grade nickel matte was 2.9%.
