SMM September 18:
This week, prices of nickel, cobalt, and lithium salts continued to rise. With the increase in salt products, the nickel, cobalt, and lithium payable indicators for ternary and LCO black mass also rose steadily. Meanwhile, the prices per % lithium for LFP black mass began to increase this week. Taking LFP pole piece black mass as an example, the current price range is 2,650-2,800 yuan/mtu, up 100 yuan/mtu WoW. For ternary black mass, the nickel and cobalt payable indicator currently stands at 73.5-75%, flat WoW, while the lithium payable indicator ranges from 68-71%, also largely unchanged from last week. On the LFP hydrometallurgy side, most enterprises adopted a wait-and-see approach at the beginning of the week, with many LFP battery hydrometallurgy recycling plants maintaining toll processing. However, as lithium carbonate prices rose this week, some upstream enterprises followed suit with increases. Currently, the profit margin for externally purchasing LFP black mass to produce lithium chemicals has gradually shifted from hovering around the breakeven line at the end of August to approximately -5% to -8%. As a result, most lithium chemical recycling enterprises that resumed production in mid-August are cautious about purchasing raw materials such as black mass, and market transaction sentiment is mediocre compared to the previous week. With cobalt sulphate prices rising continuously from mid-last month to mid-this month, the cobalt and lithium payable indicators for LCO black mass increased to some extent this week. However, due to high upstream offers and ongoing overseas policy uncertainties, downstream transactions remain cautious.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Wang Cong 021-51666838
Ma Rui 021-51595780
Feng Disheng 021-51666714
Lyu Yanlin 021-20707875
Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711
