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Platts Australia Lithium Spodumene Assessment

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• What is the Platts Australia Lithium Spodumene price assessment?
• How do we assess the Australia Lithium Spodumene price?
• Platts Australia Lithium Spodumene Commentary
  • • Spot cargoes limited amid surging demand
    • Processing margins support spodumene prices
    
    
    The domestic Chinese lithium carbonate and hydroxide prices rose on the week to Sept. 10, on strong demand and limited availability of spot cargoes.
    
    S&P Global Platts assessed battery grade lithium carbonate at Yuan 150,000/mt, and battery-grade lithium hydroxide at Yuan 148,000/mt Sept. 10, flat on the day and up Yuan 15,000/ mt, and Yuan 12,500/mt, respectively, from Sept. 3. The two assessments were on a delivered, duty-paid China basis.
    Offers for October lithium carbonate cargoes had surged following expectations of active procurement ahead of the peak month of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery production, market sources said.
    October offers for the cargoes were heard surging over Yuan 170,000/mt, with many sellers preferring to wait for buyers to indicate bid levels before setting their prices.
    The surge in October prices had a rubbing effect on September delivery prices as traders and procurers stockpiled volumes in advance, sources said. The limited availability of September delivery cargoes prompted many sellers to raise offers to Yuan 155,000/mt, after trades were concluded for Yuan 150,000/mt Sept. 9, a Chinese producer said.
    There was hardly any room for buyers to negotiate prices due to overwhelming demand and limited availability of spot cargoes, with most producers preferring to sell into their existing term contracts, a cathode maker said.
    
    Higher lithium carbonate prices were expected to lift lithium hydroxide prices, sources said.
    There were few spot offers for lithium hydroxide cargoes at Yuan 150,000/mt, and a sharp increase in lithium prices over the past month meant that existing customers would have to pay spot prices to secure any additional cargoes from contracted suppliers, a Chinese trader said.
    Most buyers rely heavily on term contracts and prefer using the same brand of lithium hydroxide due to certain technical requirements at end-users, as opposed to procuring spot cargoes which may have different specifications, another trader said.
    Strong buying interest was also expected for spodumene spot cargoes for the fourth quarter amid a lack of availability currently, market sources said.
    The processing margins for spodumene spot cargoes were attractive for buyers to be willing to pay $1400/mt or higher, another producer source said.
    Spodumene concentrate with 6% lithium oxide content (SC6) was assessed at $1400/mt FOB Australia Sept. 10, up $80/mt on the week.