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This decision follows an observed increase in reports of unqualified lithium hydroxide, which trades at a significant discount to the majority of the market. Fastmarkets also collected extensive market feedback from more than 50 companies across the supply chain, the majority of which supported a tighter specification.
Fastmarkets, as an independent benchmark provider, is price-agnostic and has no interest in the direction of a price assessment.
Fastmarkets publishes assessments designed to reflect the most representative specification of the physical spot market for battery-grade lithium salts. Through this change, Fastmarkets will continue to reflect the prevailing battery-grade market, in light of observed changes in product specifications in the pricing data received, as well as trade flows in the cif China, Japan & Korea market.
The changes to the assessment specification will ensure that Fastmarkets’ assessments continue to reflect material directly used in the electric vehicle (EV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS) end-use sectors and to not reflect atypical data points that can lead to wide spreads or distortions.
A detailed feedback summary is included below.
Fastmarkets will also clarify the shelf life, payment terms and timing for assessments within this suite of prices.
The changes were proposed in a pricing notice published on March 30, while the feedback period was extended to May 29, in a pricing notice published on May 15
Please note that, following market feedback, the methodology launch date has been changed to Tuesday September 1 from Monday August 3.
The changes to Fastmarkets’ benchmark battery-grade cif China, Japan & Korea lithium salts assessments, are as follows:
MB-LI-0033 lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price, cif China, Japan & Korea
1. Fastmarkets will change the quality specification to “non-clumping and non-agglomerated coarse powder, widely qualified by buyers in the destination country for use in battery applications…” Fastmarkets defines coarse powder as particle size D50 between 200 μm and 700 μm. Currently, Fastmarkets assesses “Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications…”
2. Fastmarkets will change the minimum quantity to 18 tonnes. Other quantities may be considered for normalization. Currently, the minimum quantity is 5 tonnes.
3. Fastmarkets will clarify payment terms as letter of credit at sight. Other payment terms would be considered for normalization. Currently, Fastmarkets does not specify payment terms.
4. Fastmarkets will clarify shelf life in the specification. Fastmarkets will reflect material stored in big bags delivered within six months of its production or reprocessing date. Material stored in airtight bags or drums may be considered for normalization. Currently, Fastmarkets does not specify shelf life.
5. Fastmarkets will also clarify that the timing specification of 60 days in the methodology refers to delivery of material to the buyer from the seller within the specified number of days.
MB-LI-0029 lithium carbonate, 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea
1. Fastmarkets will change the quality specification to “Powder, widely qualified by buyers in the destination country for use in battery applications…” Currently, Fastmarkets assesses “Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications….”
4. Fastmarkets will clarify shelf life in the specification. Fastmarkets will reflect material stored in big bags delivered within nine months of its production or reprocessing date. Material stored in airtight bags or drums may be considered for normalization. Currently, Fastmarkets does not specify shelf life.
Reported pricing data for other qualities, such as non-qualified material, or for different payment terms and timing specifications, would be considered for normalization to Fastmarkets’ base standard specification.
Please note that Fastmarkets has also decided to change assessment specifications for its exw domestic China, ddp Europe and ddp US & Canada assessments for battery-grade lithium carbonate assessments, to align with the specification changes detailed in this pricing notice for the cif China, Japan & Korea markets. A pricing notice detailing those changes is available here.
Please send any questions or comments to pricing@fastmarkets.com and industrialminerals@fastmarkets.com. 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.
Feedback summary
Due to the volume and variety of comments received, Fastmarkets has summarized the feedback and repeat discussion points.
During the overall public consultation period running from January 23 to May 29, in total, 51 companies across the supply chain provided feedback, including 14 OEMs, 10 CAM makers, 8 trading houses, 17 producers and 2 miners.
The feedback received mostly focused on the proposed specification for MB-LI-0033 lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price, cif China, Japan & Korea. The feedback received was varied but largely aligned by where a company sits in the supply chain.
Not every market participant submitted feedback on each of the proposed changes.
The decision to implement the proposed methodology changes was not made on the number of responses alone. Fastmarkets is an independent benchmark provider which creates market-reflective spot prices representing both buyers and sellers, including those who chose not to submit feedback. Fastmarkets also analyses its price assessments and data received.
Fastmarkets identified common themes and questions during the consultation. Fastmarkets considered those points and how they should inform next steps.
The feedback received regarding proposed changes to MB-LI-0029 lithium carbonate, 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices, cif China, Japan & Korea, for which the proposed specification changes would likely have a negligible pricing effect, was largely supportive.
Tightening the specification to “Widely qualified…”
The majority of market feedback was broadly supportive of the proposed wording “widely qualified by buyers in the destination country for use in battery applications…”
Some 58% of respondents on this topic, including OEMs, CAM makers, traders and producers, were supportive of a more granular base specification amid widening price ranges, particularly in the battery-grade lithium hydroxide, cif China, Japan & Korea, market.
Feedback noted greater price differentiation between widely qualified material and unqualified or older material, as well as material destined for conversion or non-battery-grade end-uses.
Data analysis, conducted over March to May 2026, showed the cif China, Japan & Korea battery-grade lithium hydroxide price assessment indicated a narrower low-high range that was higher than the assessment under the existing methodology in the same period,because material not widely qualified in the destination country was not reflected.
Please note that the data analysis is not a prediction of future values. Fastmarkets’ editorial and pricing team cannot predict future supply-demand fundamentals, which can evolve, along with the qualification status of brands of lithium salts in China, Japan and Korea, and can affect the price.
Some market participants opposed the change on the ground that it could increase the price.
Fastmarkets reiterates that it is price-agnostic and has no interest in the direction of a price assessment. Fastmarkets publishes assessments that are designed to reflect the most representative specification of the prevailing physical spot market, and will exclude atypical data points that can lead to wide spreads that obscure the prevailing market level.
Several market participants sought more clarity on how Fastmarkets would define “widely qualified.”
Fastmarkets defines ”widely qualified” as battery-grade lithium hydroxide or carbonate product that is evidenced by market participants to be widely qualified in the destination country. Typically, “widely” represents more than one cathode or battery producer in the destination country, but can vary depending on evidence submitted with the pricing data.
This tightening of language is designed to minimize changes to the market so that the assessment continues to reflect battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate that is widely qualified for use in the EV and BESS battery supply chain.
As already said in the Fastmarkets methodology, Fastmarkets’ reporters may request evidence from market participants to assess whether a reported data point is reflective of the said assessment specification, or whether it can be normalized to said specification.
Adherence to the ”widely qualified” definition would be determined based on consistent evidence of transactional spot market acceptance at prices consistent with the broader open and competitive spot market.
Fastmarkets’ reporters will continue to engage extensively with market participants across the lithium supply chain, including producers, traders, cathode manufacturers and consumers, to understand whether specific product is considered to be widely qualified within the destination market. Incomplete pricing data or data from sources who do not wish to provide evidence of qualification may be treated with lower confidence in the assessment.
Fastmarkets publishes daily pricing rationales for its lithium salts assessments, in which it includes the reasons why specific data points were discarded or were not reflected in the assessment range.
In order to maintain source confidentiality and to avoid source identification, Fastmarkets does not name the product brand for reported data points in its rationales.
Shelf life
The vast majority of market feedback was supportive of the proposal to reflect battery-grade lithium hydroxide material that is “stored in big bags delivered within six months of its production or reprocessing date. Material stored in airtight bags or drums may be considered for normalization.”
Some buy-side sources suggested tighter specifications of “within three months,” while some producers also suggested that a shelf life of “up to one year” was reflective of battery-grade lithium hydroxide, but this was deemed to be covered by the wording “Material stored in airtight bags or drums may be considered for normalization.”
Volume
Feedback received was supportive of increasing the minimum tonnage to 18 tonnes – that is, one container-load – to better reflect the cif China, Japan & Korea market. Some concerns were raised on the effect to the liquidity of the battery-grade lithium hydroxide assessment.
Per an internal analysis of reported pricing data, Fastmarkets expects an insignificant exclusion of data considered in the assessment by raising the minimum volume specification. Analysis also shows that smaller volume deals have a significant price premium to the standard volumes.
Fastmarkets’ reporters collected 2,799 data inputs for the MB-LI-0033 assessment between January 1, 2025, and May 14, 2026. Of these, 8 data points were reported with a volume below 5 tonnes (the current minimum specification), while a further 23 were reported at 5-18 tonnes (the latter being the proposed minimum volume). This would mean that, were a minimum volume of 18 tonnes implemented over that period, there would have been a cut of 0.8% of data considered within the assessment.
Payment terms
All feedback received was supportive of the proposed change to specify payment terms to Fastmarkets’ lithium carbonate and hydroxide assessments as “letter of credit at sight.” Market participants were supportive of the additional wording “Other payment terms would be considered for normalization” because other payment terms with similar or equivalent value – such as cash against documents, telegraphic transfer, and bank acceptance – are often used in the lithium salts spot market.
Feedback received also noted that it was important to normalize lengthy payment terms, such as 30-days or 60-days, back to the base specification.
Timing
Limited feedback, though supportive, was received on the proposed change to clarify the timing specification of “60 days” in the methodology, which refers to delivery of material to the buyer from the seller within the specified number of days. Some market participants noted that the transit time from South America to northern Asia can exceed 60 days.
Per discussions with market participants, material from South America that is destined for the spot market is often held by producers and traders in warehouses closer to the cif China, Japan & Korea destination, meaning that “delivery within 60 days” would capture the vast majority of spot data.