Proposal to amend spodumene min 6% Li2O cif China prices

The spodumene market has rapidly evolved in recent years, increasing in diversity of supply and consumption. To track these developments, Fastmarkets proposes the amendment of its specifications regarding the lithium content of the spodumene, as well as minimum tonnage.

Grades for spodumene have broadened significantly since the launch of the spodumene spot price in 2017, with spodumene regularly produced and traded below 5.7% grade. Fastmarkets therefore proposes to reduce the minimum lithium oxide grade content down to 5.0% to better reflect the current market dynamics. Despite the decline in grades, spodumene is still typically priced to the 6% benchmark.

Similarly, the trading of small-tonnage parcels of spodumene has become less common, with standard transactions closer to 10,000 tonnes in today’s market. Therefore, Fastmarkets is proposing to increase its minimum tonnage requirements.

The new proposed specifications are below, with the amendments in italics.

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 5.0 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: minimum 3,000 tonnes
Location: cif China
Timing: 90 days
Unit: USD/tonne
Publication: Daily, 1pm London time

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 5.0 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: minimum 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.

These prices are part of the Fastmarkets Industrial Minerals package.

The consultation period for this proposed amendment starts from Wednesday August 21 and will end on September 18. The amendment will then take place, subject to market feedback, on September 20.

To provide feedback on this price or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to this price, please contact Callum Perry by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Callum Perry, re CIF China spodumene prices.”

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