[SMM Analysis] A Review of This Week's Scrap Spot Price Trends (April 28-30, 2025)

SMM, April 30:

Current situation of hydrometallurgy recycling this week:

Salt side: This week, lithium chemical prices have generally declined slightly, while prices of salt products such as nickel salt and cobalt salt have remained basically stable. This week, the coefficients for ternary and LCO black mass began to drop slightly. Taking ternary black mass as an example: Currently, the coefficient for ternary pole piece black mass is 75-77%, and for ternary battery black mass, it is 72-74%. On the supply side, the psychological selling prices of grinding mills and traders have decreased along with the drop in salt prices. However, some grinding mills still choose to hold back from selling due to their current profits being below the surplus line, opting to wait for market conditions to improve. Overall market transactions in April were sluggish compared to March on a MoM basis. On the demand side, most hydrometallurgy plants have only made just-in-time procurement of black mass amid the continuous decline in nickel, cobalt, and lithium salt prices. Additionally, due to the market's pessimistic outlook on subsequent lithium chemical prices, they have only maintained a safety stock of raw materials for about one month. Cost side, currently, except for leading integrated hydrometallurgy plants, the profits of most hydrometallurgy plants remain below the surplus line. The profits of grinding mills are slightly better than those of hydrometallurgy plants. However, due to the previous drop in copper cathode prices, the profits of grinding mills have also continued to be inverted.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Xu Ying 021-51666707

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Liu Yujun 021-20707895

Yu Xiaodan 021-20707870

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711

Zhang He 021-20707850