India-origin material was heard offered at payables of 75-78% CIF Korea for nickel and cobalt including the value of lithium in nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) black mass.
An offer for US material was heard at 82% CIF on the same basis for NCM of 18% nickel, 5-6% cobalt and 3.2% lithium, while a third offer was heard for US-origin NCM black mass at 72% CIF Korea.
The rise in payables was attributed to stronger cobalt metal prices, while Chinese local lithium carbonate prices also showed some small gains following a rise in futures trading following the Golden Week holiday.
Bids from buyers remained at payables below 70% CIF Korea for nickel and cobalt including lithium in NCM black mass, with very limited trading heard. The workable price level for a cargo of NCM black mass to South Korea was heard at around 70-73% CIF for nickel and cobalt, excluding the value of lithium, which works out at 67-70% CIF using Fastmarkets’ specifications and the current lithium payable level of 4-5%.
A deal for Southeast Asia-origin black mass was heard at 70% CIF Asia for nickel and cobalt including lithium this week, but the purchasing trader was planning to hold the cargo in position for a while rather than sell to an end user amid the lull in buying.
Fastmarkets’ price assessments for black mass, NCM/NCA payable indicator, nickel, cif South Korea, % payable LME nickel cash official price and for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) were both at 67-70% on Wednesday October 11, narrowing upward by 2 percentage points from 65-70% one week prior.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was 4-5% on Wednesday, unchanged week on week.
“We are seeing some signs of slightly better demand than before [but] the black mass market has not changed much, and we are not fully able to incorporate [the higher cobalt and lithium prices] into higher black mass payables,” a seller source said on Wednesday, adding that they expects to see new price ranges coming at the end of the week.
Margins continue to be concerning for buyers
Despite the recent rise in cobalt metal prices, sources pointed out that cobalt sulfate prices have still been performing poorly on Asia, leaving recyclers with difficult margins when considering the recent firm black mass prices.
“Cobalt sulfate prices are [poor] so there have been no deals for [lithium cobalt oxide] LCO black mass at all – and there is low demand for NCM black mass,” a South Korean trader said on Wednesday.
“The market is at 65% CIF Korea for cobalt in LCO and 4-5% CIF for lithium. Because lithium recovery rates in Korea are around 80%, it does not make sense to pay more for lithium right now,” the trader added.
Sources said that LCO black mass would currently be around 5% lower on payables for cobalt including lithium compared with the value paid for cobalt including lithium in NCM black mass due to lower demand for the high-cobalt chemistry and higher supply of that material in the market.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for black mass, LCO, payable indicator, cobalt, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end) was 62-67% on Wednesday, up 2% from 60-65% cif week on week.
“It might be true that there is rising buying sentiment in Korea [because] newly-entered refiners want to secure raw materials when they first start their production,” a Korean consumer source said.
“But metal products prices are still too low, so we won’t be able to make any profit at 70% payable levels [for nickel and cobalt including the value of lithium],” the consumer said.
“In my personal opinion, many are over-bidding to secure materials but I think it won’t last long since the price of all battery-related materials are showing deep depressions,” a second Korean buyer said.
In Southeast Asia, the workable price level for NCM black mass was given at 70% CIF for nickel and cobalt including lithium by a major buyer for Japanese or Korean material, but the buyer said that cargo from Europe should be discounted by 2% because of the longer voyage time.
A deal for ultra-high grade black powder was heard done at 95% CIF Southeast Asia for nickel and cobalt including lithium this week.
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