Price Quotes
Today, the tax-inclusive cash price of China's battery-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3≥99.5%) market has risen, and is currently 59,100~64,100 yuan/ton, with an average price of 61,600 yuan/ton, up 100 yuan/ton from yesterday.
Today, the tax-inclusive cash price of China's industrial-grade lithium carbonate (Li2CO3≥99%) market has risen, and is currently 57,900~61,900 yuan/ton, with an average price of 59,900 yuan/ton, up 100 yuan/ton from yesterday.
Comprehensive
Today, the price of lithium carbonate rose slightly. The main futures contract continued to rebound, but the spot market was still weak. The price rose slightly from the previous day but remained low overall. The rebound was mainly driven by policy expectations and short-covering, rather than substantial improvement in fundamentals, and the contradiction between supply and demand was not fundamentally alleviated. The upstream mines continue to clear out, Jiangxi lithium mica enterprises have stopped production on a large scale, and low-cost production capacity such as salt lake lithium extraction has been released steadily; downstream power battery companies are cautious in purchasing, and inventory pressure suppresses the demand for replenishment. Although there is a certain increase in the power battery and energy storage market, the overall purchase is still dominated by rigid demand. Coupled with the high inventory of the industrial chain, the market is in a wait-and-see mood. In the short term, the contradiction between supply and demand has not been fundamentally alleviated, but policy expectations (such as new energy vehicle consumption season activities) may support the sentiment.
Raw material market
The price of lithium ore has stabilized recently. The reluctance to sell in African mines has increased, and the price of Australian spodumene has also risen slightly, reflecting the willingness of some mines to support prices. However, the phenomenon of inverted mineral salt prices still exists, and some smelters are facing loss pressure, which may suppress the enthusiasm for future raw material procurement. The cost advantage of lithium extraction from salt lakes is obvious, but seasonal factors lead to fluctuations in production, and the supply increase is limited in the short term. Overall, the supporting role of raw material costs on lithium carbonate prices has gradually increased, but the oversupply pattern at the mine end has not changed, which still limits the rebound space.
Downstream market
Demand growth in the downstream power battery and energy storage sectors is lower than expected. Although sales of new energy vehicles have increased year-on-year, battery companies have high inventories, material factories are cautious in purchasing, and lithium carbonate spot transactions are sluggish. Although there are favorable policies such as the new energy vehicle consumption season, the actual driving effect needs to be verified; the progress of new technologies such as solid-state batteries is difficult to reverse the supply and demand pattern in the short term. In addition, the overseas market is disturbed by trade policies (such as the imposition of tariffs by the United States), which suppresses export demand and further limits the upward space of prices.
Market outlook
Lithium carbonate prices may remain volatile in the short term. The sentiment in the lithium carbonate futures market has slightly warmed up recently, but the spot fundamentals are still weak. The maintenance capacity of the supply side has gradually recovered, but the high social inventory still suppresses the rebound momentum; if the policy stimulus on the demand side fails to materialize, prices may be under pressure again. We need to be vigilant against fluctuations caused by unexpected production cuts or changes in macro sentiment on the mine side, but under the pattern of oversupply of fundamentals, it is difficult to rise in a trend.
