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The amendment and launch follow feedback from market participants who are interested in seeing regional price references for lithium in the US and Canada that reflect the evolving battery supply chain in the region, and new market dynamics arising from the US’ enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) legislation. The landmark IRA legislation, which was signed into law in 2022, is expected to change trade flows and to potentially create separate prices for IRA-compliant material versus non-IRA-compliant material.
Fastmarkets was the first price reporting agency to launch spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate price assessments for the US and Europe. Pricing histories for these markets are available back to 2017.
Fastmarkets’ assessments of the lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price, cif China, Japan & Korea and the lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price, cif China, Japan & Korea are the underlying settlement mechanisms of cash-settled contracts available from the CME Group, the London Metal Exchange and the Singapore Exchange.
The new specifications for the amended Europe price assessments without the US footprint are as follows:
MB-LI-0023: Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price ddp Europe, $ per kgQuality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition: Li2CO3 99.5% min (Min. 99.2% Li2CO3 accepted if it can be normalized to 99.5%); Na 0.060% max; Ca 0.016% max; Mg 0.008% max; magnetic impurities 300ppb maxQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp EuropeTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time
MB-LI-0025: Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price ddp Europe, $ per kgQuality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition LiOH 56.5% min; CO2 <0.35%; Ca 0.020% max; SO4 0.015% max; Cl- 0.005% maxQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp EuropeTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time
MB-LI-0019: Lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp Europe, $ per kgQuality: Min 99% Li2CO3 (qualified for use in technical and industrial applications), powderQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp EuropeTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time
MB-LI-0021: Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp Europe, $ per kgQuality: LiOH 56.5% min (qualified for use in technical and industrial applications), powderQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp EuropeTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time
The proposed specifications for the new US and Canadian lithium price assessments are as follows:
MB-LI-0044: Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price ddp US and Canada, $ per kgQuality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition: Li2CO3 99.5% min (Min. 99.2% Li2CO3 accepted if it can be normalized to 99.5%); Na 0.060% max; Ca 0.016% max; Mg 0.008% max; magnetic impurities 300ppb maxQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp US and CanadaTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 10-11am US East Coast time
MB-LI-0045: Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price ddp US and Canada, $ per kgQuality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition LiOH 56.5% min; CO2 <0.35%; Ca 0.020% max; SO4 0.015% max; Cl- 0.005% maxQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp US and CanadaTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 10-11am US East Coast time
MB-LI-0046: Lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp US and Canada, $ per kgQuality: Min 99% Li2CO3 (qualified for use in technical and industrial applications), powderQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp US and CanadaTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 10-11am US East Coast time
MB-LI-0047: Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp US and Canada, $ per kgQuality: LiOH 56.5% min (qualified for use in technical and industrial applications), powderQuantity: Min 5 tonnesLocation: ddp US and CanadaTiming: 30 daysUnit: USD per kgPublication: Weekly, Thursday, 10-11am US East Coast time
The consultation period for these changes started 45 days prior, on Monday February 12, and ended on Thursday March 28.
To provide feedback on these changes, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these assessments, please contact Grace Asenov by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: “FAO: Grace Asenov re: Europe/US/Canada lithium price assessments.”
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 of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to: https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.