This week, the prices of salt products such as cobalt sulphate and lithium carbonate increased, especially the price of lithium carbonate, which saw a significant rise. This week, the nickel and cobalt coefficients for products like ternary and LCO black mass increased, with the lithium coefficient showing a particularly high increase. The prices per % lithium for LFP black mass also continued to rise.

[SMM Weekly Review] This week, the spot price of cobalt sulphate continued to stabilize. On the supply side, affected by the continuous rise in production costs, smelters' new cargo offers remained at 50,000-53,000 yuan/mt, and traders held a bullish sentiment, with offers for old cargo also raised to above 48,000 yuan/mt. On the demand side, ternary cathode precursors and Co3O4 were still in the off-season, with no significant improvement in orders. It was difficult to accept new cargo of high-priced cobalt sulphate, and the main focus was on consuming previous inventory. Just-in-time procurement also prioritized the purchase of relatively cheaper old cargo from traders. Overall, the market situation this week was roughly consistent with last week, with transactions remaining sluggish and it being difficult for high-priced transactions to continue rising. It is expected that under the influence of the continuous rise in raw material costs, cobalt sulphate prices may continue to maintain a relatively strong trend in the short term, but the improvement in downstream demand still needs to be observed during this process.

[SMM Weekly Review] This week, the spot price of cobalt intermediate products continued to rise. On the supply side, cobalt intermediate product resources are currently concentrated, and miners are still suspending their quotations. At the weekend, customs data were released, showing a significant pullback in China's imports of cobalt intermediate products in June, further strengthening market expectations of tight raw material supply. Traders continued to raise their quotations amid bullish sentiment, and reported that a small number of transactions for mainstream brands occurred near the price range of $12.5-12.6/lb. On the demand side, smelters faced challenges such as production cost losses and weak downstream demand. Most enterprises primarily consumed their own inventories, while some smelters with relatively low inventories reported that the current cost losses were too severe. If they could not purchase cobalt intermediate products at low prices, they would choose to purchase other cobalt raw materials as substitutes or opt for production cuts or even shutdowns. Overall, due to the impact of the DRC's extension policy, China's cobalt intermediate products will still face a shortage of raw materials in the future, and there is upward momentum in prices. However, attention should be paid to the inhibition of downstream demand caused by the rise in raw material prices during this process.

[SMM Weekly Review] This week, refined cobalt prices stopped falling and rebounded. On the supply side, smelters continued to supply under long-term contracts, with ex-factory prices remaining unchanged due to production costs. At the weekend, customs data was released, boosting market sentiment. Domestic futures prices stabilized and rebounded, with traders' quotes and transaction prices following suit. On the demand side, social inventory of refined cobalt remained high. Coupled with weak demand from downstream alloy and magnetic material factories affected by high temperatures, most downstream producers maintained a just-in-time procurement rhythm. However, some traders reported that market inquiries and transactions had improved somewhat compared to last week, with a small number of downstream enterprises replenishing their stocks in advance under the influence of bullish sentiment. Overall, the current time point is still in the off-season for demand. In the short term, refined cobalt prices will maintain a fluctuating trend, with subsequent price movements needing to focus on cost increases and the digestion of social inventory.

The separator price remains stable, with limited short-term fluctuations.

The mainstream transaction price of cobalt chloride is 63,000 yuan/mt.

[The Co3O4 market is sluggish, with prices holding steady]

[LCO prices remained stable this week]