New Article from FastMarket:China’s lithium carbonate price...

New Article from FastMarket:
China’s lithium carbonate price rebounds amid futures strength
China’s spot lithium carbonate prices rebounded in the week to Thursday October 12 due to support from a surge in the lithium carbonate futures contract on Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX), the first gain since the end of August, sources said.

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The most traded January 2024 lithium carbonate contract on GFEX surged to close at 164,950 yuan ($22,596) per tonne on Thursday from the day’s opening at 157,100 yuan per tonne.This lithium carbonate contract price has been on a steady uptrend after China’s Golden Week holiday from September 29 to October 6. The contract opened at 150,000 yuan per tonne and closed at 151,900 yuan per tonne on Monday October 9, the first trading day after the holiday.

“Lithium carbonate sellers are not willing to further lower prices because they expect that there could be a round of restocking in the fourth quarter, which typically has the strongest demand of the year,” a Chinese lithium producer source said.However, spot market fundamentals remained weak, with consumers continuing to purchase only on a hand-to-mouth basis.

“Downstream cathode producers are still keeping their lithium carbonate inventories at a low level, enough for only around three days of production. They only purchase on an as-needed basis with only small volumes each time,” a second Chinese lithium producer source said.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment of lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot price range exw domestic China was 163,000-170,000 yuan per tonne on Thursday, narrowing upward by 3,000 yuan per tonne from 160,000-170,000 yuan per tonne on the previous assessment on September 28.The latest assessment was 147,000-1550,000 yuan per tonne lower from 310,000-325,000 yuan per tonne on June 15 when the overall price downtrend started.Lithium hydroxide market participants continued to note muted demand for the material given a sluggish nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) battery sector in China, which weighed down on China’s lithium hydroxide prices.

“There is almost no demand for lithium hydroxide from the consumer side. While the downstream NCM battery sector remains sluggish, even traders are not active with speculative activity in the hydroxide market,” the second Chinese lithium producer source said. “Without demand, there will be no buyers, regardless of how low the lithium hydroxide prices are.”