[SMM Weekly Review] The spot price of cobalt sulphate continued to stabilize this week

This week, the spot price of cobalt sulphate continued to stabilize. On the supply side, affected by the continuous rise in production costs, smelters maintained their new cargo quotes at 50,000-53,000 yuan/mt, while traders held a bullish sentiment and raised their quotes for old cargo to over 48,000 yuan/mt. On the demand side, ternary cathode precursors and cobalt tetroxide (Co3O4) remained in the off-season, with no significant improvement in orders. It was difficult to accept new cargo of high-priced cobalt sulphate, and the 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 that of last week, with transactions remaining sluggish and it being difficult for high transaction prices 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 New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Xiao Wenhao 021-51666872

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711