[SMM Analysis] This Week in the Hydrometallurgy Recycling Market: Cobalt Prices Continued to Decline, and Hydrometallurgy Recycling Transactions Were Sluggish

Published: Jul 30, 2026 19:27

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Raw material side, lithium carbonate and nickel sulphate prices fluctuated this week, while cobalt sulphate prices fell steadily.

SMM July 30 news:

Raw material side, this week lithium carbonate and nickel sulphate prices fluctuated, while cobalt sulphate prices fell steadily. This week, looking at ternary, LCO, and LFP material types, on the LFP hydrometallurgical side: Taking LFP electrode black mass as an example, its price was 6,250-6,700 yuan/mtu, basically stable WoW from last Thursday’s deals. Meanwhile, LFP battery black mass price was 5,500-5,900 yuan/mtu, and the price spread with electrode black mass gradually widened. The main reason was that several LFP recycling enterprises were actively producing, mainly purchasing LFP electrodes, which broadened the demand scope for scrap LFP electrodes. Therefore, some LFP hydrometallurgical companies switched to purchasing LFP battery black mass, or additionally purchased LFP electrode black mass at higher prices; On the ternary and LCO side, nickel and cobalt payables for ternary electrode black mass were around 76-79%, with the market starting to see some low-price deals, and payables at the low end of the range fell; Cobalt and lithium payables for pure cobalt and high-cobalt scrap also edged down. With cobalt sulphate prices falling steadily and sluggish demand in the end-use consumer market, upstream hydrometallurgical enterprises purchased in light volumes.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lü Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711

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