Fastmarkets launches prevailing spodumene contract price, amends existing spot assessment

Following a month-long consultation, Fastmarkets is launching a monthly assessment to reflect the prevailing price range for spodumene concentrate contracts on a cif China basis. The first assessment will be published on Wednesday March 30.

The decision to launch a spodumene contract price, alongside the existing spodumene spot assessment, is based on market feedback that indicates a growing need for greater clarity on the price distinction between spodumene concentrate traded on a spot basis versus material traded under term contract arrangements.

The name of Fastmarkets’ existing spodumene spot price assessment will also be amended to ‘Spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China, $/tonne’ from ‘Spodumene min 6% Li2O, cif China, $/tonne’, effective Thursday March 24, to better differentiate the two assessments.

In addition, the minimum cargo size eligible for inclusion in Fastmarkets’ existing spodumene spot assessment is being specified at 1,000 tonnes.

The specification for the new price assessment and amendment to the specification of the existing spodumene spot assessment are as below:

MB-LI-0043, Spodumene min 6% Li2O, contract price, cif China, $/tonne
Quality: A mineral concentrate accepted by buyers for conversion in lithium chemicals used in battery applications (any size will be accepted) and with the following chemical composition: Li2O 6% ( min 5.7 Li2O and max 6.1% Li2O accepted if it can be normalized to 6%); Fe2O3 < 1.3% (max 1.5% Fe2O3 accepted if it can be normalized to < 1.3%), H2O <10%
Quantity: 5,000 tonnes
Location: cif China
Timing: up to 1 year
Unit: USD/tonne
Publication: Monthly, last Wednesday of the month, 3-4pm London time

MB-LI-0012, Spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China, $/tonne
Quality: A mineral concentrate accepted by buyers for conversion in lithium chemicals used in battery applications (any size will be accepted) and with the following chemical composition: Li2O 6% ( min 5.7 Li2O and max 6.1% Li2O accepted if it can be normalized to 6%); Fe2O3 < 1.3% (max 1.5% Fe2O3 accepted if it can be normalized to < 1.3%), H2O <10%
Quantity: 1,000 tonnes
Location: cif China
Timing: 90 days
Unit: USD/tonne
Publication: Fortnightly, Thursday, 3-4pm London time
Notes: When the pricing day falls on a bank holiday in England and Wales, this price will be rolled over.

To provide feedback on this consultation, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to the lithium prices, please contact Dalila Ouerghi and Zihao Li by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Dalila Ouerghi/Zihao Li re: lithium price assessments.’

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

[Editor’s note: This article was updated to clarify that the prevailing contract price assessment for spodumene will be launched on March 30.]