[SMM Analysis] This week, the market was sluggish, and nickel salt prices slightly declined.

Sluggish Market Activity This Week, Nickel Salt Prices Slightly Down

As of Thursday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price stood at 27,206 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 27,450-27,550 yuan/mt; the average price declined WoW.

Demand side, downstream production schedule expectations for this month declined, some producers still had some raw material inventory accumulation, coupled with the year-end destocking tendency of some manufacturers, nickel sulphate procurement sentiment was relatively weak recently; Supply side, nickel prices rebounded from last month's low recently, some producers showed willingness to hold prices firm, but due to overall weak downstream demand, no increase in price acceptance was observed yet. Looking ahead, demand pullback this month is expected to continue pressuring nickel salt prices, but attention should be paid to whether the sustained rebound in nickel prices can provide cost support.

Inventory side, the upstream nickel salt smelter inventory index rose from 4.7 days to 4.9 days this week, the downstream precursor plant inventory index dropped from 8.9 days to 8.8 days, downstream overall destocking is expected this month, the integrated enterprise inventory index rose from 7 days to 7.3 days; Buying/selling strength side, the upstream nickel salt smelter's Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor remained at 1.8 this week, the downstream precursor plant's procurement sentiment factor remained at 2.8, overall transaction sentiment across the upstream and downstream was weak, the integrated enterprise sentiment factor remained at 2.7. (Historical data is available for query in the database.)