[SMM Weekly Review] This week in the hydrometallurgy recycling market: LFP black mass price increases slowed, trading turned sluggish after sufficient stockpiling (2026.1.19-2026.1.22)

Published: Jan 22, 2026 18:58

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This week, cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate prices were basically flat, while lithium carbonate prices fell before rising again.

SMM January 22 News:

Nickel sulphate and cobalt sulphate prices were basically flat WoW, while lithium carbonate prices fell before rising again.

By material type, ternary and LFP: For LFP pole piece black mass, prices were 6,400-6,800 yuan/mtu, up slightly WoW. Due to volatile lithium carbonate prices, LFP black mass prices oscillated overall, but the rise slowed recently as most downstream LFP hydrometallurgical enterprises completed stockpiling in previous weeks, resulting in sluggish market transactions. For ternary black mass: nickel and cobalt payables were 78-80%, flat WoW, while lithium payables were 78-79%, with all three coefficients basically at the same discount. Although salt prices rose, black mass payables and black mass prices increased simultaneously, so profits did not improve significantly.

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

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM‘s internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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