SMM Notice on News Updates Suspension during the Mid-Autumn Festival

Dear Visitors, We would like to inform you that updates to the news and price sections of our English website will be temporarily suspended during the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays.

In the week of May 20-23, refined cobalt prices continued to rise. From the supply side, new production capacity is Steadily ramping up, and the market operating rate remains at a relatively high level. From the downstream demand side, end-user demand has resumed lower-than-expected, with only some essential purchases during the week. Market sentiment remains strong, and spot prices remain firm.

We would like to inform you that due to the upcoming Labour Day holiday,  all of our news updates will be temporarily suspended during May 1-5 and all of our weekly reports for the Labour Day holiday week will also be temporarily cancelled.

Today's lithium carbonate market was stable with a minor decline, as the SMM index dropped to 110,825 yuan/ton (~$15,307.32 USD/ton), and futures fell by 0.73%.

Nickel prices dropped last week. By last Friday, SHFE nickel contract closed at 134,710 yuan/mt, down by 5.05% WoW. The decline was driven by waning optimism in the market, leading prices to align with fundamentals.

During the Spring Festival holiday, the LME metal on the outer disk "rose". London Xi led the way with a 3.85% increase, London copper rose 2.99%, London zinc rose 2.58%, London nickel rose 1.62%, London lead rose 0.88%, and London aluminum fell 0.31%.

Review of the Copper Market during the Spring Festival: The downstream operating rate slightly weakened before the holiday. However, according to SMM research, overall pre-holiday inventory levels remained considerable, and terminal consumption was somewhat suppressed due to the previously high copper prices.

As we approach the Chinese New Year holidays, different battery companies have different arrangements for vacation dates. The different timing of the February vacation is also indicative of the current polarization in the industry

SMM offices will be closed for the International Labour Day holiday from April 29 to May 3, 2023. There will be no updates on price data and market news, including SMM Morning Comments and Macro Roundup during this period.