Lithium: The transactions on the lithium ore market were muted as both the buyers and sellers stood on the sidelines. Some lithium smelters purchased lithium ore to deliver their long-term orders, but the demand was insignificant. It is likely that the lithium ore prices will move rangebound in the near term. For lithium carbonate, the spot prices edged down yesterday, along with rapidly falling futures prices. The traders were active in making quotations to destock, but the downstream players were wait-and-see. It is projected that the lithium carbonate prices will remain soft in the short period.
Nickel: The MHP supply remained tight, while the demand for nickel sulfate slightly rose with some newly commissioned production lines using nickel sulfate to produce nickel plate, leading to relatively tight supply of nickel sulfate. High nickel prices recently prompted the nickel sulfate smelters to hold the prices firm. But the end-market demand was subsided still, and most consumers purchased on demand.
Cobalt: The demand for cobalt sulfate remained poor with the precursor companies reducing the production, weighing on cobalt sulfate prices, in addition to soft intermediates' prices. Meanwhile, some sellers sold off to destock and improve the cash flow, and the market players were generally bearish.
Battery scrap: The transactions of battery black mass were muted at the beginning of the week, and the hydrometallurgical plants mainly made inquiries. The traders were willing to sell in the face of falling lithium prices, but were still firm to the prices. LFP black mass prices dropped as well, and some buyers purchased on the belief that the prices were already low.
Repurposing: The transactions on the repurposing market were muted due to poor downstream demand, and only cylindrical batteries were relatively more popular. The prismatic batteries were challenged by oversupply.