[SMM Analysis] A Review of This Week's Scrap Spot Price Trends, 2025.2.17-2025.2.20

SMM, February 20:

This week, prices in the recycled scrap market rose slightly. On the supply side: This week, some hydrometallurgical plants basically resumed normal production after last week's Lantern Festival. Although nickel salt and cobalt salt prices continued to decline slightly after the holiday, and lithium carbonate fluctuated, most powdering plants and traders maintained a strong stance on quotes. Taking ternary pole piece powder with high nickel coefficient as an example, most hydrometallurgical plants aimed for a purchase price of around 76-77 yuan, while powdering plants quoted 79-80 yuan, resulting in a certain price gap between the two sides. Although some hydrometallurgical plants purchased small amounts of high-priced black mass to maintain low-speed operations, some had already completed the procurement of February raw materials during stockpiling in January. Therefore, while market transactions were relatively active compared to last week, the actual price increase was relatively small due to most enterprises' bearish outlook on subsequent salt prices and their existing inventory. Compared to February prices, most enterprises are more focused on March demand recovery and salt price trends, mainly because some recycling enterprises are expected to stockpile for production during this period. Coupled with the fact that enterprises with prior stockpiling have mostly consumed their inventory, it is anticipated that hydrometallurgical procurement in March could increase by approximately 15%-20%.

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