Morning briefing: Lithium price moves rangebound with buyers lowering bids
Lithium: The spodumene market quietened recently, and the price hike slowed. The buyers and sellers' bids and offers showed increasingly great difference, and there were hardly any transactions. The demand for lepidolite improved, and the prices rebounded slowly. It is expected that the lithium ore prices will stabilize in the near term. For lithium carbonate, the prices were stable yesterday, and the transactions weakened after the market players stockpiled properly last week. The lithium smelters were still firm to the prices, and the downstream players purchased on demand. It is expected that the lithium carbonate prices will move rangebound in the near term.
Nickel: The spot MHP production in Indonesia rose rapidly, which is expected to shore up the supply in China in the future. Some integrated producers started to sell nickel sulfate, leading to rising supply. But the end-market was still slow in recovery, and producing nickel plate with nickel suflate was not profitable. The nickel sulfate prices are projected to fall with mounting oversupply.
Cobalt: The prices of cobalt intermediates dropped, leading to weakening cost support. The end-market demand did not show solid improvement, and most cathode active material factories tried to force down the prices. However, since cobalt sulfate prices were at the historical low, the smelters are unlikely to further lower the prices.
Battery scrap: The prices of NMC and LCO black mass dropped slightly yesterday amidst falling cobalt sulfate prices, and the hydrometallurgical plants became more cauitous in purchasing, intending to lower the bids. But the sellers were still firm to the prices. The prices of LFP black mass were rather resilient, with only a few transactions heard.
Repurposing: The transactions on the repurposing market were mostly between traders yesterday, and the B grade battery cells were sold off, except for the brands with relatively high demand.
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