Lithium: Frequent production cuts among overseas lithium mines encouraged the ore traders to lift the quotations, especially when the rising lithium carbonate futures prices slightly boosted the market confidence. But the buyers' reaction to the price hike was silent. Nevertheless, Albemarle's spodumene auction last Friday was closed with higher settlement prices compared with the last one, offering certain support to lithium ore prices. Concerning lepidolite, the domestic production cut made the prices resilient. It is likely that the lithium ore prices will remain firm in the near term. For lithium carbonate, both the spot and futures prices rose last week with bullish news amidst ltihium converters curtailing the production for maintenance. But the downstream cathode active material factories mostly purchased on demand and stood on the sidelines. It is likely that the lithium carbonate prices will inch up in the short period.
Nickel: The demand for nickel sulfate spots was lackluster at the current stage, and the downstream consumers were wait-and-see. The nickel sulfate producers lowered the prices amidst falling nickel prices and the failing expectation of the traditional seasonal high in September. But the firm intermediates prices will offer certain support to nickel sulfate prices.
Cobalt: Currently the fundamentals of the cobalt chemicals market were little changed, and the mainstream producers sticked to the quotations last week. However, there was news that a top-tier precursor plant inquired with a bid of Yuan 27,500/t, and the sellers' response was silent. For cobalt chloride, the downstream players gradually built stocks in the face of moderate end-market demand. But the spot transactions were still lackluster. The quotations were mostly around Yuan 35,500/t as the sellers were free of inventory pressure amidst stable supply.
Battery scrap: The lithium-ion battery scrap prices edged up last week amidst robust lithium prices. The transaction volume improved, but some of them was contributed by the speculators. But the hydrometallurgical plants were cautious still, and made inquiries based on their actual cost.
Repurposing: The transactions on the repurposing market were modest, and the new regulations on e-bike batteries slightly boosted the repurposing market. However, the end-market demand did not post strong improvement, hence the existing transactions were mostly with low prices.