[SMM Weekly Review] This Week's Hydrometallurgical Recycling Market: LFP Prices per % Lithium Rebounded Somewhat, Pure Cobalt Black Mass Prices Continued to Move Down (Aug. 10-13, 2026)

SMM August 13 News:

Raw material side, this week cobalt sulphate and nickel sulphate prices fluctuated, while lithium carbonate prices fluctuated. This week, looking at material types—ternary, LCO, and LFP—on the LFP hydrometallurgy side: taking LFP electrode black mass as an example, current prices are 6,450-6,900 yuan per % lithium, with transaction prices continuing to rise from last Thursday's levels. Meanwhile, LFP battery black mass prices are currently 5,600-6,050 yuan per % lithium, and the price spread between battery black mass and electrode black mass has gradually widened. This was mainly because several LFP repair enterprises were active in production, mainly purchasing LFP electrodes and expanding the demand market for waste LFP electrodes. As a result, some LFP hydrometallurgy enterprises switched to purchasing LFP battery black mass, or purchased LFP electrode black mass at extra high prices. In the ternary and LCO segment, nickel and cobalt payables for ternary electrode black mass were around 76-78%, and transactions for some high-nickel 8-series and 9-series ternary electrode black mass were still around 79%; cobalt payables for LCO electrode black mass were 75-77%, and lithium payables for LCO electrode black mass were 73-75%. At this stage, as secondary cobalt sulphate prices continued to move lower, downstream LCO hydrometallurgy enterprises were very cautious in purchasing, market transactions were sluggish, and payables for pure-cobalt and high-cobalt black mass continued to be priced separately for cobalt and lithium, with prices currently slightly lower than those in the ternary segment.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lyu Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711