Following a consultation period, Fastmarkets has decided to discontinue the MB-LI-0042 lithium carbonate index, min 99.5% Li2O3, battery grade, ex-works China, due to its other price assessments for the battery-grade lithium market emerging as the industry ‘s preferred benchmarks.

The consultation period, which started on September 1, ended on October 2 with changes taking place from October 5.

The lithium carbonate index, exw China, was published weekly on a yuan per tonne basis and was a tonnage weighted average, calculated using the same data collected to inform the price assessment for lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range, exw domestic China.

Price discovery for the price assessment will not change as a result of the index’s discontinuation.

The index is not used or referred to on a large scale, and Fastmarkets’ price assessments for battery-grade lithium compounds assessed on a cif China, Japan and Korea basis are emerging as the frontrunners to be industry benchmarks.

If you have any comment on the discontinuation of this index, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the index, please contact Carrie Shi by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Carrie Shi re: lithium index.’

To see all of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.