Payables for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) black mass in the CIF South Korea market picked up in March amid stronger demand and improving battery raw materials prices

Read more about how we are segmenting our lithium price assessments for western markets

Fastmarkets proposes to amend the frequency and publication time of MB-LI-0012 Spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China, $/tonne.

China’s lithium prices extended loss over the week to Thursday March 28 after a major slump in the futures market on Monday March 25, while consumers continued to restock on a hand-to-mouth basis, sources told Fastmarkets

Fastmarkets will amend the specifications of its existing price assessments for Europe/US lithium spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate to remove the US footprint, and will launch weekly price assessments for spot battery-grade and technical-grade lithium hydroxide and carbonate for the United States and Canada on Thursday April 4.

Chile’s government has laid out its plan to significantly boost the country’s lithium production, opening up 26 lithium salt flats for private investment and naming the Atacama and Maricunga salt flats as strategic to the state.

The result of Albemarle’s spodumene concentrate digital bidding event on Tuesday March 26 was 9,372 yuan ($1,230) per tonne on an ex-works China basis, according to sources close to the matter

Warmer sentiment for lithium and nickel prices in Asian markets was not able to attract more buying interest for black mass from South Korean buyers in the week ended Wednesday March 13, due to continued thin margins at recyclers, according to market sources

Spot lithium prices in China’s domestic market remained on an uptrend in the week to Thursday March 14, following the strong futures market and rising spot offer prices, while market participants noted sporadic restocking activities

Ontario-based battery recycling company Li-Cycle announced that the company had received a $75 million investment from Glencore, building on previous investments and their existing long-term partnership