[SMM Weekly Review] This Week's Hydrometallurgy Recycling Market: Cobalt Prices Steadily Fell, Hydrometallurgy Recycling Transactions Were Sluggish (Aug. 3, 2026 – Aug. 6, 2026)

SMM August 6 News:

Raw material side, lithium carbonate and nickel sulphate prices fluctuated this week, while cobalt sulphate prices continued to decline. This week, broken down by ternary/LCO and LFP material types, for the LFP hydrometallurgical side: taking LFP electrode black mass as an example, the current price of LFP electrode black mass is 6,100-6,700 yuan per % lithium, with prices edging down WoW from last Thursday’s deals. Meanwhile, the current price of LFP battery black mass is 5,400-5,850 yuan per % lithium, and the price spread with electrode black mass is gradually widening. The main reason is that many LFP repair enterprises are actively producing, and they mainly purchase LFP electrode, thus broadening the demand market for waste LFP electrode. Therefore, some LFP hydrometallurgical enterprises switched to purchasing LFP battery black mass, or paid extra to buy LFP electrode black mass at higher prices; on the ternary and LCO side, the nickel and cobalt payables for ternary electrode black mass were around 76-79%, with low-price deals gradually emerging in the market, and the low end of the payables falling. The cobalt and lithium payables for pure cobalt and high-cobalt scrap also edged down. Cobalt sulphate prices continued to decline, combined with sluggish demand in the end-use consumption market, leading to sluggish purchase transactions by upstream hydrometallurgical enterprises.

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