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The weakness in the Chinese lithium market has bled through into other markets, which has resulted in global declines in lithium prices.
Demand for spot lithium salts in China was minimal in the week to Thursday due to a combination of a lack of recovery from the electric vehicle (EV) sector and presently large lithium inventories along the EV supply chain, market participants said.
“There is just no demand right now and the spot market is weak with no signs of improvement in the near term. We are prioritizing using up our lithium carbonate supply from long-term contracts,” a Chinese cathode producer source said.
Most market participants expect the bearish sentiment and weak demand for lithium salts to persist in the coming months. Some even said that lithium prices may remain weak for the first half of 2023, unless the Chinese government implements new policies to boost EV consumption.
“Amid the widespread bearish sentiment, some traders have been trying to get rid of their existing supply of lithium carbonate and have pushed their offers lower and lower, accelerating the downtrend in prices presently seen in China,” a Chinese lithium producer source said, adding that the continual dip in prices has led to even more consumer caution.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment of lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range exw domestic China was 340,000-370,000 yuan ($49,232-53,576) per tonne, on Thursday, down by 30,000-45,000, or 9.55%, yuan per tonne from 385,000-400,000 yuan per tonne.
Lithium hydroxide prices in China also edged lower over the week to Thursday on limited demand, but at a slower pace than those of lithium carbonate.
“Demand for lithium hydroxide is even thinner than that for lithium carbonate. However, major lithium hydroxide producers can export their materials to the East Asian market, where the materials are traded at a premium over the domestic Chinese prices, which lent support to domestic Chinese hydroxide prices,” a Chinese lithium trader said.
Fastmarkets’ weekly price assessment of lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price range exw domestic China was 410,000-440,000 yuan per tonne on Thursday, down by 20,000-30,000 yuan per tonne from 440,000-460,000yuan per tonne.
Spot lithium carbonate prices in East Asia fell over the week to Thursday, pressed by the ongoing rapid decline in Chinese lithium prices and Chinese sellers eager to destock.
“Many Chinese lithium carbonate sellers are sitting on large inventories. With the demand still thin in China and prices expected to drift even lower, some eager Chinese sellers will try to sell lithium carbonate to the East Asian market as much as they can to destock before any more weakness happens and are willing to sell at prices very close to those on the Chinese domestic market,” a Chinese lithium producer source said.
“We are willing to sell as much battery-grade lithium carbonate as the customers want at $58 per kg. I believe many other lithium sellers are adopting similar tactics,” a Chinese lithium trader said.
However, despite the selling interest, buyers in East Asia remained largely watchful and cautious, due to the expectation of further price drops and have adopted a wait-and-see approach toward spot purchases.
“We have noticed very low liquidity in the seaborne East Asia market because buyers are convinced prices will continue to trend lower and have curtailed their purchasing as a result,” a European lithium seller said.
Battery-grade lithium hydroxide prices in East Asia also declined over the week to Thursday, also due to weakness in the Chinese domestic market, albeit at a slower pace than those for lithium carbonate, sources told Fastmarkets
Major lithium hydroxide producers have been insisting on high lithium hydroxide spot prices because their ongoing long-term agreement prices were still in the upper $70s per kg, according to multiple market participants.
“The lithium hydroxide producers qualified to supply East Asian battery producers are very limited. So even though there are inventories in China whose prices are lower, they cannot be used by those battery producers,” a second Chinese lithium producer source said.
Fastmarkets’ daily assessment of lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea was $58-65 per kg on Thursday, down by $2.50-6.50 per kg from $64.50-67.50 per kg a day earlier, and down by $3-7 per kg from $65-68 per kg a week earlier.
The equivalent assessment of lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price cif China, Japan & Korea was $72-75 per kg on Thursday, down by $1 per kg from $73-76 per kg a day earlier, and down by $2 per kg from $74-77 per kg a week earlier.
Spot lithium prices in Europe and the United States similarly maintained a downtrend due the bearish sentiment from the Chinese domestic market, sources said.
One distributor, who is active mostly in the technical grade space, said that he would reluctantly lower his offer prices to sell his inventory of lithium hydroxide,
The same distributor also said that industrial end consumers were buying on a hand to mouth basis in hopes that prices would continue to go lower and therefore were postponing bigger orders.
Although some stocks of lithium were bought at higher levels earlier this year, those sellers may want to destock now and decrease their offer prices now rather than risk higher losses in the near future if the global downtrend continues, according to an intermediary seller.
Fastmarkets last assessed the price of lithium carbonate 99% Li2CO3 min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp Europe and US at $58-63 per kg on Thursday March 2 , down 10.37% from $65-68 per kg a week earlier.
The equivalent lithium carbonate battery grade price ddp Europe was assessed at $58-67 per kg on Thursday March 2, down by 6.72% from $65.50-68.50 per kg a week earlier.
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