On January 30, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price was 32,491 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate between 32,100-33,800 yuan/mt; the average price pulled back compared to yesterday.
Cost side, precious and non-ferrous metals retreated after a rapid rise yesterday, and nickel prices pulled back significantly from yesterday's high today, leading to a decrease in the immediate production cost of nickel sulphate. Supply side, as nickel prices have generally been at high levels recently, some nickel salt producers, affected by expectations of rising raw material costs, still maintained a strong sentiment to hold prices firm. Demand side, approaching the Chinese New Year, some producers had certain raw material stocking demand, but other producers who had already stocked up for the holiday mainly adopted a wait-and-see stance towards the highly volatile nickel prices, showing weak acceptance of high-priced nickel salt. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters was 1.9, the Purchasing Sentiment Factor for downstream precursor plants was 2.7, and the Sentiment Factor for integrated enterprises was 2.5 (historical data can be queried by logging into the database).
Looking ahead, as it is the stockpiling period before the Chinese New Year, if nickel prices can continue to hold up well, it may provide cost support for nickel salt prices.
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