[SMM Nickel Sulphate Daily Review] August 17: Spot Order Market Transactions Were Sluggish; Nickel Sulphate Prices Held Steady

On August 17, SMM’s average price for battery-grade nickel sulphate remained stable.

Cost side, the recovery in macro sentiment drove a broad rise in base metals, and the spot production cost of nickel sulphate edged up; supply side, as costs remained at elevated levels, some producers were willing to hold prices firm, while some others had relatively high inventory levels and sought to sell and destock; demand side, recently some downstream enterprises mainly relied on long-term contract supply, with weak sentiment for building inventory via spot orders and relatively low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Today, the upstream nickel salt smelter’s Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor was 2.0, the downstream precursor plants’ purchasing sentiment factor was 2.3, and the integrated enterprises’ sentiment factor was 2.3 (historical data can be queried by logging into the database).

Looking ahead, in the short term, spot-order market activity was relatively weak, and nickel sulphate prices were under pressure overall.

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