Morning briefing: Downstream demand flat across lithium industry chain

Lithium: The lithium ore market subsided further with the logistics services gradually stalled for Chinese New Year holiday. The quarterly earnings report disclosed by Australia mines showed pessimism over the market in 2024, and the mines focused on cost control. In China, the spot market heard few bids and offers, and the smelters were unwilling to purchase, while the traders refrained from selling as well. It is expected that the lithium ore prices will remain constrained. For lithium carbonate, the prices dropped slightly last week, and the market animation weakened significantly, partly due to the approaching Chinese New Year holiday. Nevertheless, the bids and offers of industrial grade lithium carbonate were relatively more frequent. The LFP manufacturers were still slow in stockpiling. It is projected that the lithium carbonate prices will remain rangebound.

Nickel: The nickel sulfate demand showed no signs of improvement, and the market players reduced the production extensively. Some smelters refrained from selling until after the Chinese New Year holiday to mitigate the losses. As such, the nickel sulfate prices were relatively resilient on falling supply. But the demand is unlikely to pick up either. And the oversupplied MHP will keep weighing on nickel sulfate prices.

Cobalt: The cobalt salt smelters reduced or suspended the production gradually ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday, and some took the holiday in advance in the face of poor demand.

Battery scrap: The battery scrap prices stabilized gradually, and the buyers and sellers were both preparing for the holiday. The hydrometallurgical plants maintained low capacity utilization rates due to the lack of raw materials, but the payables of NMC black mass are unlikely to rebound in the near term. The LCO black mass heard no transactions. And the prices of LFP black mass dropped slightly last week.

Repurposing: The repurposing market saw almost no transactions last week, and the demand weakened with the end-market players closed for holiday. The traders stopped making quotations as well, and awaited the post-holiday market.