Lithium prices have been stabilizing outside of China even though demand was still considered healthy. The softening could be a delayed response to the recent correction of Chinese domestic lithium prices, sources said Nov. 29.
Platts assessed lithium carbonate unchanged Nov. 29 from Nov. 28 at $78,000/mt, but up $200/mt from Nov. 22. Lithium hydroxide was down $500/mt on the day, but still $200/mt higher on the week at $84,200/mt.
The prices reflect the spot value of battery-grade material on a CIF North Asia basis, referring to deliveries to the main ports of China, Japan and South Korea. Lithium carbonate, however, is normalized to deliveries at the Shanghai port.
Market fundamentals remained solid and mostly unchanged, sources said. Supply of battery-grade quality is still tight, and any delay in the planned expansions could affect the market balance even further, even if demand doesn’t grow as expected in coming months.
The current big picture still shows a clear sellers’ market.
“The Chinese sentiments are definitely spreading to Japan and South Korea, but not so strongly,” said a trader source who was offered battery-grade lithium carbonate at $81,000/mt from Chinese origin. He pegged the tradable level at $79,000-$80,000/mt.
He was also offered battery-grade lithium hydroxide at $84,000/mt, expecting the definitive value to hover $82,000-$83,000/mt.
“Demand has been good in Japan and South Korea,” said a producer source who added that the Japanese market is still dominated by term contracts, with little room for spot transactions that are more frequent in South Korea.
A second seller source who was also satisfied with demand outside of China was maintaining his offer level at $78,000/mt for lithium carbonate and at $84,000-$86,000/mt for lithium hydroxide.
The Platts $78,000/mt assessment for battery-grade lithium carbonate CIF North Asia was equivalent to Yuan 636,388/mt on a DDP China basis, including 13% value added tax, port and logistics costs, based on S&P Global Commodity Insights’ import-parity calculation.
The DDP China lithium carbonate price was assessed at Yuan 577,000/mt Nov. 29, meaning seaborne prices were well above Chinese domestic prices. The dollar was assessed at Yuan 7.1989 at 4:30 pm Singapore time.
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