Cost Side Weakness Coupled with Easing Expectations, Nickel Salt Prices Continue to Decline
As of Friday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index stood at 27,469 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 27,660-27,800 yuan/mt, and the average price declined WoW.
Demand side, month-end procurement period is approaching, but some producers still have accumulated raw material inventory, and price acceptance has not shown a significant rebound; Supply side, as some enterprises tend to cut refined nickel production and instead sell nickel sulphate externally, this has fueled expectations of easing supply. Looking ahead, with the month-end procurement period approaching, improved nickel salt supply this month may put pressure on nickel salt prices, but attention should be paid to whether the rebound in nickel prices can support nickel sulphate costs.
Inventory side, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index remained at 4.3 days, the downstream precursor plant inventory index dropped from 8.5 days to 7.9 days, and the integrated enterprise inventory index remained at 7 days; In terms of trading strength, this week the upstream nickel salt smelter's Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor rose from 1.6 to 1.9, while the downstream precursor plant's purchasing sentiment factor increased from 2.7 to 2.9. With the month-end procurement period approaching, market transaction sentiment improved, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor remained at 2.7. (Historical data can be queried in the database.)
This Week Nickel Prices Rebounded, Nickel Salt Production Costs Rose
Cost side, MHP raw material market circulation is tight, and the MHP payables remained high this week. Nickel prices, this week nickel prices rebounded driven by the US Fed's "dovish" signals on interest rate cuts. Overall for the week, nickel prices rose WoW, while MHP payables held steady, leading to a rebound in the immediate production cost of nickel sulphate compared to last week. As of Friday this week, the profit margin using MHP was 0.5%, using crude slag was -3.1%, using nickel briquette was -0.8%, and using high-grade nickel matte was 5.8%.
