On April 15, the average price of SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate rose.
Cost side, expectations of rising costs following Indonesia's revision of the HPM formula continued to ferment, nickel prices moved further, and the immediate production cost of nickel sulphate rebounded. Supply side, nickel prices, MHP payables, and auxiliary material prices such as sulphuric acid have all remained at high levels recently, and nickel salt smelter offer prices were lifted due to rising costs. Demand side, as downstream demand remained unclear and some producers still held raw material inventory, upstream costs were difficult to pass through downstream, and acceptance of nickel salt prices showed no significant increase for the time being. Today, the upstream nickel salt smelter Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor was 1.8, the downstream precursor plant procurement sentiment factor was 2.5, and the integrated enterprise sentiment factor was 2.3 (historical data can be accessed by logging into the database).
Looking ahead, mid-month trading sentiment is relatively weak, and attention should be paid to downstream demand conditions and the strength of cost pass-through to downstream.
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