[SMM Analysis] Nickel Prices Continued to Fluctuate Upward, Nickel Salt Prices Rose This Week

Nickel Prices Continued to Fluctuate Upward, Nickel Salt Prices Rose This Week

As of Thursday this week, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index stood at 33,332 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate at 32,700-34,500 yuan/mt, and the average price rose further WoW.

Demand side, after previous destocking and with the Chinese New Year stockpiling period approaching, some producers had procurement demand recently, but due to high volatility in nickel prices, transactions this week were still mostly just-in-time procurement; Supply side, nickel prices climbed further this week, increasing producers' concerns about rising raw material costs, some producers had a strong willingness to hold prices firm, some stopped offering, and the volume of nickel sulphate available for sale in the market decreased relatively. Looking ahead, nickel prices are expected to continue fluctuating upward, providing cost support for nickel salt prices to move higher in the short term, but subsequent nickel price trends still need to be monitored.

Inventory side, the inventory index for upstream nickel salt smelters dropped from 5.2 days to 5 days this week, the inventory index for downstream precursor plants remained at 9.1 days, some downstream producers conducted restocking recently, and the inventory index for integrated enterprises held at 7.3 days; Buying and selling strength side, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters remained at 2.0 this week, the Purchasing Sentiment Factor for downstream precursor plants fell from 2.9 to 2.8, and the sentiment factor for integrated enterprises held at 2.4. (Historical data is available in the database.)