This week, nickel salt prices remained stable, with market trading still at relatively low levels.
As of today, the SMM battery-grade nickel sulphate index price stood at 26,379 yuan/mt, with the quotation range for battery-grade nickel sulphate between 26,000-26,920 yuan/mt, and the average price unchanged WoW.
Demand side, some precursor manufacturers still have restocking needs for January. Market inquiries and trading volumes have rebounded compared to last week, but overall activity remains relatively subdued. Supply side, most nickel sulphate manufacturers are expected to cut production this month due to weak demand and losses. Currently, spot market inventory levels remain extremely low, with limited market circulation, and the quotation coefficient from smelters remains at last week's level.
In the short term, the supply-demand relationship is likely to remain weak on both sides, with insufficient upward or downward momentum for nickel sulphate prices. Nickel sulphate prices are expected to remain stable in the near future.
This week, cost support for nickel sulphate weakened.
Cost side, the MHP market activity rebounded compared to last week but remained at a relatively weak level, with coefficients running steadily. High-grade nickel matte, due to its high cost, leaves upstream manufacturers with little incentive to make concessions, keeping coefficients temporarily stable. This week, auxiliary material costs for MHP and high-grade nickel matte declined, and LME nickel prices also pulled back. Despite the cost reductions, nickel salt smelters using yellow slag and MHP to produce nickel sulphate still face losses. In terms of immediate profits, the profit margin for producing nickel sulphate using yellow slag is -8.0%, while for MHP it is -2.2%. Notably, nickel salt smelters using high-grade nickel matte to produce nickel sulphate have achieved profitability, with a current profit margin of 2.1%.
