Eye on Lithium: Bearish battery rumours didn’t stop lithium...

Eye on Lithium: Bearish battery rumours didn’t stop lithium prices climbing to record highs in November

Lithium prices in China continued to climb in the first half of November before stabilising in the latter half, as rumours swirled that downstream battery supply chain players would limit production for the rest of 2022.

This resulted in an overall (and still very respectable) 4.9% month-on-month increase in Benchmark Mineral Intelligence’s Lithium Price Index.

Lithium carbonate prices averaged US$68,114/t ($101,517/t) in November, up 4.3% from the previous month, while lithium hydroxide retained a small premium with an average weighted price of US$71,565/t – a 5.8% increase.

Spodumene recorded the biggest increase in value, soaring 15.1% to US$5,903/t.

Benchmark added that some spodumene contract pricing mechanisms tied to the lithium chemicals spot market could have been successfully renegotiated, allowing for a shorter lag time for pricing movements in the chemicals market to be reflected in spodumene pricing.

This could have been behind the notable uptick on the lower end of pricing as these contracts moved closer in line with recent developments in the Chinese lithium chemical spot market.