【SMM Analysis】: Pre-Holiday Sluggish Market as Recycling Enterprises Complete Stockpiling"

Published: Feb 28, 2026 18:16

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SMM Feburary 16 News: Raw material side, this week lithium carbonate prices began to rise continuously, while cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate prices remained stable.

SMM Feburary 16 News:

Raw material side, this week lithium carbonate prices began to rise continuously, while cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate prices remained stable.

This week, looking at the types of ternary, LCO, and LFP materials, on the LFP hydrometallurgy end: taking LFP pole piece black mass as an example, the current price of LFP pole piece black mass is 5,750-6,000 yuan/mtu, with the transaction center down WoW. As time moved into mid-February, although lithium chemicals prices started to rebound after market sentiment recovered, most LFP recycling enterprises had already completed stockpiling by early February and month-end, entering the Chinese New Year holiday period, thus market transactions were very sluggish, with only a few traders inquiring about prices. On the ternary and LCO end, the nickel and cobalt payables for ternary pole piece black mass were around 78%-80%, and lithium payables were 76%-78%. Most ternary upstream and downstream recycling enterprises had also finished stockpiling, with sluggish market transactions and prices flat MoM.

metal prices

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