Discontinuation of lithium contract price assessments (reminder)

The lithium contract price assessments follow the UK holiday pricing schedule. Due to the Christmas Day holiday in the UK falling on Wednesday December 25, Fastmarkets will publish the assessments scheduled for that date on December 24, in accordance with our methodology.

Fastmarkets’ decision to discontinue these assessments follows a six-month consultation that started on October 23, 2023. An extended period of discussions with a wide cross-section of market participants in the lithium industry followed.

The feedback received alongside interrogation of existing data collected by Fastmarkets suggested that these prices no longer reflect the dynamics of the physical lithium market. The evolving lithium marketplace in recent years has resulted in long-term contract negotiations that are increasingly linked to spot price indexation. This evolution has resulted in an extended period of low liquidity in the data collection of the lithium contract prices.

The affected prices are:
• MB-LI-0031 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea
• MB-LI-0027 Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea
• MB-LI-0030 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea
• MB-LI-0026 Lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grades, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea
• MB-LI-0024 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, contract price ddp Europe and US
• MB-LI-0022 Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, contract price ddp Europe and US
• MB-LI-0020 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, contract price ddp Europe and US
• MB-LI-0018 Lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grades, contract price ddp Europe and US

All short-term forecasts associated with these prices produced by Fastmarkets’ research team, if any, will also be discontinued.

If you have any comments on the discontinuation of the lithium contract prices, please contact Zihao Li or Ewan Thomson by email at pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading: “FAO: Zihao Li/Ewan Thomson re Lithium contract price discontinuation.”

Please indicate if your comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and, upon request, will make comments not marked as confidential available.

To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, please go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.