Tight spot supply but downstream purchasing demand persists; nickel sulphate prices continue to rise this week
As of Friday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price was 27,331 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate being 27,300-27,790 yuan/mt, and the average price further increasing WoW.
Demand side, as the "September-October peak season" approaches, some precursor plants still have restocking demand. In recent days, they have been actively inquiring about prices, and their acceptance of nickel salt prices has risen. Supply side, the overall inventory levels of nickel salt smelters are low, with fewer spot order quotations in the market. Coupled with the cost pressure from high-priced raw materials, producers continue to refuse to budge on prices. Looking ahead, some precursor plants still have raw material stocking demand. Given the current tight spot supply of nickel sulphate, nickel salt prices are expected to continue rising.
In terms of inventory, the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index decreased from 6 days to 5.8 days this week, while the downstream precursor plant inventory index decreased from 10.8 days to 10.6 days. Both buyers and sellers saw a decline in inventory, with the integrated enterprise inventory index at 7.4 days. Regarding the strength of buyers and sellers, the upstream nickel salt smelter sentiment factor decreased from 1.7 to 1.5 this week, while the downstream precursor plant purchasing sentiment factor was 3.1, indicating strong buyer purchasing sentiment and weak seller shipping sentiment. The integrated enterprise sentiment factor increased from 1.7 to 1.8. (Historical data can be queried in the database)
Nickel prices pull back, MHP payable indicator rises; nickel salt production costs slightly decrease
Cost side, the MHP raw material market circulation is tight, and the MHP payable indicator has increased this week. Regarding nickel prices, the market was mainly influenced by changes in expectations for US Fed interest rate cuts this week, experiencing significant fluctuations. The latest PPI data drove LME nickel prices to pull back. Overall, although nickel prices slightly decreased WoW this week, the MHP payable indicator still drove up the immediate production costs of nickel sulphate. As of Friday this week, the profit margin using MHP was -1.0%, using crude slag was -2.5%, using nickel briquette was -3.6%, and using high-grade nickel matte was 4.4%.
