[SMM Market Flash] India Approves Capex Support for Lithium and Nickel Processing Plants

Market sentiment along the industry chain recovered somewhat this week, but supply-demand fundamentals remained weak. Refined metal prices rebounded from around 200,000 yuan/mt, peaking at 238,000 yuan/mt before pulling back to consolidate, with production recovery and expectations of inventory buildup capping the uptrend. The price center for intermediate products edged lower, and the price spread between buyers and sellers persisted. Sulphate offers rebounded to 43,000-45,000 yuan/mt, but downstream purchase willingness was insufficient. Co3O4 and metal powder prices gradually stabilized, with limited improvement in actual transactions. Affected by weak end-use demand, ternary cathode precursors and cathode materials continued to trend lower, and enterprises became more cautious in their production schedules. In the short term, the market still faces multiple pressures from supply growth, slow inventory digestion, and insufficient demand, and the sustainability of the price rebound remains to be verified.

Recently, the Yibin Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau of Sichuan Province issued a public notice on the approval decisions for environmental impact assessment documents of construction projects, granting approval for the Environmental Impact Report of the 30,000 mt/year High-Compaction Density LFP Project by Yibin Tianyuan Lithium Battery New Materials Co., Ltd. The notice period runs from November 2 to November 11, 2026. The approval states that after fully implementing the environmental protection measures proposed in the EIA documents, the adverse environmental impacts of the project can be mitigated, and approval is granted in principle for Yibin Tianyuan Lithium Battery New Materials Co., Ltd. to proceed with construction in accordance with the nature, scale, location, processes, and environmental protection measures specified in the report.