Cobalt prices firm during the negotiation period, lithium iron phosphate leads the rebound of lithium prices

SHANGHAI, Oct 28 (SMM) – Cobalt prices remain firm with the support of the cost on the back of discussions of long term agreements on the raw materials end. Price of smelting products are also robust with stable demand for downstream power ternary sector.

With the continuous increase of lithium iron phosphate, it is expected that the traded prices of industry grade lithium carbonate will continue to increase slightly this week. More battery grade lithium carbonate is likely to be traded this week, but the quotes will be higher and the transaction price may not meet market expectations. Existing demand failed to support prices due to the high stocks of electri c hydrogen. Electric hydrogen is likely to have a slight downward trend this week.

Domestic imported refined cobalt inventory pressure was relatively high last week due to the price gap between the domestic and overseas market. The downward trend was obvious and downstream traders were more cautious in purchasing. Inventories and shipmen ts of some smelters remain tight due to winter stockpiling. Prices of cobalt intermediate products rose slightly this week,

Discussions of the annual long term contracts of cobalt intermediate products are ongoing and suppliers have received many inquiri es, leading to an increase of spot prices. Prices of SMM refined cobalt stood at 265,000-275,000 yuan/mt this week, and the average prices decreased 1,500 yuan/mt compared with last week. Prices of SMM cobalt intermediate products came in at $11.7 12.1/mt, and the average prices was $0.05/mt higher than last week.

In the power market, car companies and major battery factories are rushing to finish the works this month to make up for the impact of the pandemic on new energy vehicles in the first half of thi s year. According to the insurance data of new energy passenger cars, the number of insured cars in September stood at 113,000, up 22% from the previous month. Among them, the sales volume of pure electric vehicles was 91,000, accounting for 80.4%, and th at of plug in hybrid vehicles was 22,000, accounting for 19.6%. Individual users increased on a monthly basis, mainly because two high and low end markets, Hongguang Mini and BYD "Han", drove up the consumption of low end customers.