The outlook for the spot market of scrap lithium batteries remained unfavorable this week (June 3-6, 2025) [SMM Weekly Review of Lithium Battery Recycling Market]

SMM, June 5:

Current situation of hydrometallurgy recycling this week:

This week, prices of products such as lithium chemicals and cobalt salts continued to decline, while nickel salt prices remained stable. Coefficients for products like ternary and LCO black mass also continued to fall this week. Specifically, for LFP pole piece black mass, the prices per % lithium ranged from 2,250 to 2,400 yuan/mtu, and for LFP battery black mass, they ranged from 2,050 to 2,200 yuan/mtu. Taking ternary black mass as an example: currently, the nickel-cobalt coefficient for ternary pole piece black mass is 74-76%, and the lithium coefficient is 70-72%; for ternary battery black mass, the nickel-cobalt coefficient is 70-72%, and the lithium coefficient is 68-72%. Most enterprises in the market have started to price based on different coefficients. On the demand side, with the continuous decline in nickel, cobalt, and lithium chemical prices, most hydrometallurgy plants have chosen to operate in a semi-shutdown state. Most ternary and LFP hydrometallurgy plants have reduced their procurement volumes this month, only consuming basic inventory. Due to the market's pessimistic outlook on subsequent lithium chemical prices, they are cautious about purchasing LFP black mass, resulting in very sluggish market transactions. Currently, there has been a MoM decrease of about 15-20% in May procurement, and June is expected to remain basically flat. On the supply side, the psychological selling prices of grinding mills and traders have loosened somewhat with the continuous decline in salt prices. Black mass prices have generally followed the downward trend of salt prices, but the rate of decline is still slower than that of salt prices. Moreover, as the profits of some grinding mills are still below the surplus line at this stage, they have chosen to hold back from selling, waiting for a subsequent market recovery. Market transactions are sluggish, and it is expected that procurement volumes in June will remain stable or slightly decrease MoM from April. On the cost side, except for leading integrated hydrometallurgy plants, the profits of most hydrometallurgy plants are still below the surplus line, especially LFP hydrometallurgy plants, which have been significantly affected by the decline in lithium chemical prices. The profits of grinding mills are slightly better than those of hydrometallurgy plants, but the profits of some small and medium-sized grinding mills continue to be inverted.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711