Ann: Quarterly Report - June 2018, page-108

Just clearing out the old stock.
From the Quarterly report:

As a result of the impending changes to the Chinese NEV subsidies described above, Q2 of 2018 was characterized by destocking activities along the various stages of the lithium-ion battery value chain within China in order to free up capacity to shift production to higher energy density technologies in the future. Combined with maturing seasonality this resulted in a retraction of lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide prices within China throughout the period (c.-18% for lithium carbonate, c.-4% for lithium hydroxide in China). However, the key pricing trend observed throughout the quarter was the convergence of the Chinese price for battery grade lithium salts and the rest of the world (“ROW”) price observed for the equivalent products. ROW pricing (c.US$16,000 – US$17,000/t for lithium carbonate, c.US$18,000 - US$19,000/t for lithium hydroxide) continued to grow to record levels throughout the quarter demonstrating the robust and maturing nature of the current market for lithium products. As was observed in both 2016 and 2017 pricing is expected to recover strongly in H2 2018 in line with targeted NEV production volumes across the globe and a continued lag in the supply side response. Continued demand growth and the processing lag between new spodumene production, its conversion into chemicals and ultimate consumption within an end use application is expected to ensure the market balance remains tight within the foreseeable future, supporting a recovered pricing environment.