Cobalt Chloride: Post-Holiday Prices Expected to Continue Rising Driven by Raw Material Prices

Market trading remained relatively sluggish this week, with the tight supply situation unchanged. Smelters' mainstream quotations stood at 115,000 yuan/mt, while some traders offered old cargo at around 110,000 yuan/mt, and recycling enterprises quoted between 114,000-115,000 yuan/mt. Raw material shortages have become the norm, and inventories at small and medium-sized smelters were critically low. In contrast, leading large enterprises, due to proactive purchasing and restocking earlier and raw material supply from downstream customers, could basically guarantee supply for the first quarter of next year. On the battery cell side, downstream purchasing willingness was low as they had already purchased and stockpiled earlier and faced significant price pressure. Conversely, the high-cobalt and magnetic material sectors showed higher acceptance of current prices, leading to sporadic purchases. Given recent intermediate product transactions concluded at $25/lb, the price of 115,000 yuan/mt is expected to see transactions after the New Year's Day holiday.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yanlin Lü 021-20707875

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711