Platts launches daily US nickel sulfate assessments

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, has launched first-of-kind daily nickel sulfate CIF US assessments, effective June 24, 2024.

The assessments complement Platts established suite of daily battery metals assessment offerings and build on previous launches in the nickel price chain, including Asia nickel sulfate DDP China, mixed hydroxide precipitate (MHP) CIF North Asia, nickel pig iron FOB Indonesia, and Europe nickel sulfate in-warehouse Rotterdam.

The latest launch responds to growing demand from market participants for additional spot pricing information on nickel sulfate, as the US battery supply chain continues to develop. Nickel sulfate has become the preferred chemical feed in the production of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries with a nickel-cobalt-manganese (NMC)chemistry. In the US, there are at least 40 planned projects related to NMC production over the next five years, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights data, with imports currently dominating supply to this expanding cell manufacturing industry.

For light-duty electric vehicles, high-nickel content NMC batteries are forecast to take a near-50% market share globally by 2030, according to S&P Global Mobility, and are expected to remain the leading battery chemistry in the US electric vehicle battery market.

The new US nickel sulfate assessments reflect a daily differential over the prevailing exchange value for nickel metal and an all-in calculation representing the sum of the differential and the LME official cash price, multiplied by a factor of 0.223 to convert nickel metal to nickel sulfate.

Assessment specifications are as follows:

All origins of nickel sulfate meeting these specifications will be taken into consideration, while other grades may be normalized to Platts base standards.

Platts US nickel sulfate assessments consider market information reported to Platts and published throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, transactions and indications, as well as any other data deemed relevant to the assessment process.

The daily assessments are timestamped to 4:30 pm US ET time. Following the first full month of publication for the new nickel sulfate CIF US assessments, publication of monthly averages will commence on July 31.

A full description of the Platts assessments methodology can be found here: /content/dam/spglobal/ci/en/documents/platts/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/Platts-Assessments-Methodology-Guide.pdf

The new assessments are published on Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert pages, Platts Metals Daily, Platts Connect, Platts Market Center, and in the Platts price database under the symbols listed above.

The assessments also are included on pages MTL8888 and PMA8888, and the monthly averages on pages PMA0663 and MTL0663, alongside Platts' full suite of battery metals assessments.

Please send all comments and questions to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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