[SMM Nickel Sulphate Daily Review] Nickel Salt Prices Continue to Rise on August 19

On August 19, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index stood at 27,386 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 27,390-27,790 yuan/mt, and the average price rose slightly from the previous day.

Cost side, recent market fluctuations were influenced by expectations for US Fed interest rate cuts and nickel's weak fundamentals, with LME nickel prices fluctuating at lows, leading to a pullback in immediate costs for nickel salts. Supply side, nickel salt smelters maintained low spot inventory levels, with fewer spot order quotations recently, coupled with raw material cost pressures, prompting smelters to refuse to budge on prices. Demand side, some precursor plants still had restocking needs recently, showing active inquiries and increased price acceptance. Today, the sentiment factor for upstream nickel salt smelters was 1.5, while downstream precursor plants' purchasing sentiment factor was 3.0, and integrated enterprises' sentiment factor was 1.8 (historical data available in the database).

Looking ahead, the nickel sulphate market is expected to maintain a tight supply-demand pattern in the short term, with nickel salt prices likely to rebound.

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