On August 21, the average price of SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate edged down slightly.
From the cost side, a sharp single-day inventory buildup in LME weighed on nickel prices, which rebounded slightly today driven by non-ferrous metal sentiment, while the immediate cost of nickel sulphate production weakened. On the supply side, as costs remain at high levels, some producers were inclined to hold prices firm, but others with high inventory levels sought to sell for destocking. On the demand side, some downstream enterprises have recently focused on long-term contract supply, with weak sentiment for spot order inventory building and relatively low acceptance of nickel salt prices. Today, the Willingness to Sell Sentiment Factor for upstream nickel salt smelters was 2, and the procurement sentiment factor for downstream precursor plants was 2.3, with the sentiment factor for integrated enterprises at 2.3 (historical data is available for query on the database).
Looking ahead, short-term spot market activity is expected to remain subdued, with nickel sulphate prices overall under pressure.
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