Fastmarkets proposes to amend NCM/NCA black mass methodology specifications

Black mass market dynamics have shifted dramatically since August 2025 when China’s ban on imports of the secondary raw material was lifted.

In its place is now a stringent import regulation, stipulating minimum 25% nickel and cobalt content combined in Category 1 nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) and lithium-cobalt-oxide (LCO) materials, together with minimum 3.5% lithium and maximum 0.4% water-soluble fluoride.

The policy shift has ignited demand for low-impurity materials with high metals contents generated from production scrap materials, often being shipped into Southeast Asia or South Korea and going on to China, according to market sources.

Payables for black mass with low moisture, low impurity and made from production scrap have climbed sharply from last summer, due to stronger demand from China and South Korea, tight generation availability from western markets and rising metals prices, sources said.

Proposed changes
The following changes are proposed to all of the below Fastmarkets prices:

MB-BMS-0001 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, max 5% moisture, cif South Korea, % payable LME Nickel cash official price
MB-BMS-0002 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, max 5% moisture, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
MB-BMS-0003 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, max 5% moisture, cif South Korea, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea
MB-BMS-0004 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, domestic, max 5% moisture, exw Europe, % payable LME Nickel cash official price
MB-BMS-0005 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, max 5% moisture, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
MB-BMS-0007 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, max 5% moisture, cif Southeast Asia, % payable LME Nickel cash official price
MB-BMS-0008 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, max 5% moisture, cif Southeast Asia, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
MB-BMS-0009 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, lithium, max 5% moisture, cif Southeast Asia, % payable Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea
MB-BMS-0014 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, cobalt, max 5% moisture, exw USA, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)
MB-BMS-0015 Black mass, NCM/NCA, payable indicator, nickel, max 5% moisture, exw USA, % payable LME Nickel cash official price

Fastmarkets proposes to change its methodology specifications for the “Quality” field for all of the above prices to:

“Nickel and cobalt-rich black mass, with metal content of 20-25% nickel, 3-10% cobalt and 3-4.5% lithium. Minimum total cobalt and nickel content of 25%, maximum total of 35%. Max 2% aluminium, max 2% copper, max 1% iron, max 2% fluorine. Maximum 5% moisture content. Materials falling outside these parameters may be normalized based on market participant feedback.”

Further proposed amendments are:

• Materials covered by the methodology for the CIF South Korea and CIF Southeast Asia payables indicators will be based primarily on production scrap and not end-of-life origin. This is because of the widening gap between these material origins and the much stronger demand from China for new production materials. The same parameter is not proposed for the EXW Europe and US markets to avoid squeezing liquidity volumes.
• Due to changes in trade flows, Fastmarkets proposes to remove nickel-cobalt-aluminium (NCA) materials from all of the above assessments scope and names. NCA material is very rarely heard traded on the spot market in either Europe, the US or Asia.
• Data points in the CIF South Korea market shall only be accepted if the material is being consumed by a Korean refiner. Material for transshipment from Korea will not be included.
• The EXW Europe payables will no longer refer to being domestic material and a note will be added to the methodology document noting that these prices only cover hazardous waste-origin materials. This will also affect the price: MB-BMS-0006 Black mass, LCO, payable indicator, cobalt, domestic, max 5% moisture, exw Europe, % payable Fastmarkets’ standard-grade cobalt price (low-end)

You can find the current methodology for all of Fastmarkets’ black mass prices here.

These prices are a part of the Base Metals Physical Prices, Minor Metals Physical Prices and Industrial Minerals Physical Prices packages.

Providing feedback
This consultation, which is open until March 25, 2026, seeks to ensure that our methodologies continue to reflect the physical market under indexation, in compliance with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) principles for Price Reporting Agencies (PRAs). This includes all elements of our pricing process, our price specifications and publication frequency.

A decision of consultation will be posted by March 30, 2026. Fastmarkets will publish a summary of the feedback, with the exception of those responses marked as confidential. Any proposals to make material changes, discontinue or launch prices will involve a separate market consultation, the length of which will depend on how substantial the change is.

Barring any feedback that will require an extension to the consultation, implementation will take place on April 8, 2026.

To provide feedback on this index, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this index, please contact pricing@fastmarkets.com and metalsrecycling@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “re: black mass methodology review.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, go to the Fastmarkets methodology page.