[SMMS Weekly Review] This Week, Ternary and LFP Black Mass Prices in the Disassembly Recycling Market Fluctuated (2025.8.18-2025.8.21)

SMM August 21 News:

This week, cobalt sulphate prices continued to rise, nickel sulphate prices were basically flat, while lithium carbonate and other salt product prices fluctuated. This week, the nickel and cobalt payable indicators for ternary, LCO black mass, and other materials slightly increased with the rise in salt prices, while the lithium payable indicator began to decline after an earlier increase. The prices of LFP black mass lithium points also fluctuated this week. Taking ternary black mass as an example: currently, the nickel and cobalt payable indicators for ternary pole piece black mass are 73-75%, up WoW, while the lithium payable indicator is 69-74%, down WoW. At present, with the previous rise in lithium prices, ternary recycling hydrometallurgy enterprises' quotations show two trends. One trend is to quote a unified coefficient for nickel, cobalt, and lithium due to the recent price increases in lithium carbonate, with quotes around the average price on our website. The other trend maintains a situation where the lithium coefficient is 2-3 points lower than the nickel and cobalt coefficients, with nickel and cobalt quotes close to the high end of the average, and lithium quotes close to the low end of the average. Under both quotation methods, the final calculated overall black mass transaction prices differ by very little, possibly just 100-200 yuan/mt. In the LFP hydrometallurgy sector, most LFP battery hydrometallurgy recycling plants maintain toll processing, and with the fluctuation in lithium carbonate prices, some upstream crushing companies have suspended quotations due to price uncertainty. However, overall market transactions still fluctuate with the lithium chemicals.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711