Banter and general comments, page-6357

• Battery Li carbonate offered at record Yuan 320,000/mt
• Carbonate-hydroxide spread to persist near term

Chinese lithium carbonate prices continued to break records in the final week of 2021, while hydroxide prices were heard to have stabilized on weaker spot demand.

S&P Global Platts assessed battery-grade lithium carbonate at Yuan 280,000/mt Dec. 31 on a delivered, duty-paid China basis, up Yuan 25,000/mt week on week.
Traded levels rose steadily through the week and were pegged at Yuan 280,000-290,000/mt by market sources Dec. 31. Though trades were sparse, they were heard to have closed at Yuan 300,000/mt by both a consumer and a trader.
“Offers have even reached Yuan 320,000/mt today,” another trader commented Dec. 31.
Downstream demand, on the other hand, is showing no sign of slowing down, with chemicals and even fertilizer producers pivoting towards lithium-iron-phosphate production, a producer said.
“Everyone wants a piece of the pie,” the producer said. “And while battery makers only require around six months to start production, upstream resource extraction needs at least two to three years to ramp up, so supply will be tight.”
Meanwhile, hydroxide prices were heard to have stabilized around Yuan 220,000/mt on weaker domestic demand.
S&P Global Platts assessed battery grade lithium hydroxide at Yuan 218,000/mt Dec. 31, on a delivered, duty-paid China basis, up Yuan 15,000/mt week on week.
The carbonate-hydroxide spread widened to negative Yuan 62,000/mt despite hydroxide prices having risen by more than Yuan 10,000/mt since the start of the week.
“We’ve observed carbonate-hydroxide spreads in the past few years, but it’s never been this big,” a battery-maker commented. “I think it’s something that the market will just have to get used to.”
S&P Global Platts assessed spodumene concentrate with 6% lithium oxide content (SC6) at $2,800/mt FOB Australia Dec. 31, up $100/mt week on week.
A trader reported hearing a deal at $2,600/mt for spodumene concentrate with 5.2% lithium oxide content in the week leading to Dec. 31.
Other market sources reported hearing offers up to $3,900/mt, signaling that market sentiment was increasingly bullish on spodumene prices, though no trades were heard done at this level.
“At current lithium salt prices, spodumene could be tradable above $3,000/mt,” a Chinese trader said. “However, I think most cargoes are already locked in Q1 2022 contracts and sellers shouldn’t have any spot material to offer now.”
Most Q1 2022 term contracts were heard concluded at around $2,000/mt, another trader said.