The deepening of profit inversion pushes up the price sentiment of salt plants [SMM nickel sulfate daily review]

On May 21, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulfate index price was 32,004 yuan/ton, an increase of 417 yuan/ton from the previous working day, and the price of battery-grade nickel sulfate was 31,500-32,500 yuan/ton, with an average price increase of 400 yuan/ton from the previous working day. The supply of nickel salts is limited by the current situation and expectations of raw materials, and the inventory of finished products remains low. The high raw material coefficient and the high nickel price have pushed up the cost of raw materials, forcing the profit inversion of the salt plant to deepen, causing the salt plant to raise prices strongly. Although the demand has weakened, it is constrained by the difficulty of some precursor factories in the early stage, and the temporary replenishment demand caused by the increase in orders has forced the downstream to accept high-priced nickel salts. As a result, nickel salt prices rebounded. However, affected by the high opening of nickel prices on Monday, the profit recovery of salt plants is limited.