[SMM Daily Review of Nickel Sulphate] August 13: Nickel salt prices rose

On August 13, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price stood at 27,309 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 27,270-27,790 yuan/mt. The average price rose slightly from the previous day.

Cost side, the latest US CPI data further fueled market expectations for interest rate cuts, and LME nickel prices continued to rebound recently, driving up the immediate costs for nickel salts. Supply side, nickel salt smelters maintained low spot inventory levels, with fewer spot orders quoted recently, coupled with raw material cost pressures, leading smelters to refuse to budge on prices. Demand side, some precursor plants still had restocking needs recently, showing active inquiries and higher price acceptance. Today, the sentiment factor for upstream nickel salt smelters' sales was 1.6, while downstream precursor plants' purchasing sentiment factor was 3.1, and integrated enterprises' sentiment factor was 1.7 (historical data available in the database).

Looking ahead, the current nickel sulphate market exhibits a tight supply-demand pattern, and nickel salt prices are expected to rebound.

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