[SMM Analysis] Some Producers Still Had Raw Material Procurement Needs, and Nickel Salt Prices Rose This Week

Some Producers Still Had Raw Material Procurement Needs, Nickel Salt Prices Rose This Week

As of Thursday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price was 27,758 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 27,800-28,000 yuan/mt, and the average price rose further WoW.

Demand side, the monthly procurement period had passed, and transactions decreased relatively in the middle of the month, but some producers still had raw material needs recently, and their acceptance of nickel salt prices increased; supply side, nickel salt smelters had less spot supply, coupled with high-cost raw material cost pressure, supporting the continuous rise in nickel salt quotations. Looking ahead, some downstream enterprises still have procurement needs, and current spot nickel sulphate is tight, so nickel salt prices are expected to have further room to rise.

Inventory side, this week, the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index rose from 4.4 days to 4.5 days, the downstream precursor plant inventory index remained at 9.5 days, and the inventory levels of buyers and sellers were generally low, with the integrated enterprise inventory index remaining at 7.3 days; in terms of buying and selling strength, this week, the upstream nickel salt smelter's Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor remained at 1.5, the downstream precursor plant's procurement sentiment factor fell from 3.0 to 2.9, as some producers' procurement sentiment pulled back after completing stockpiling at the end of last month, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor rose from 2.5 to 2.6. (Historical data can be queried in the database.)