Good News & Bad News, page-27534

• International lithium prices continue to track China
• Buyers take wait-and-see approach

Seaborne lithium prices tracked the Chinese domestic lithium market in the week to April 18 amid thin demand and lower offers.
Platts assessed the battery-grade lithium carbonate prices at $38,5000/mt on April 18, down $500/mt on the day and $6,500/mt on the week. Lithium hydroxide was stagnant on the day at $48,000/mt but down $7,000/mt on the week.
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.
The drop in lithium prices outside of China has been softer because of lower spot liquidity and limited availability of conversion capacity ex-China.
“Demand isn’t great over in Japan and South Korea but it’s definitely not as bad as over here,” said a China-based producer, adding that most of the demand overseas was covered by long-term contracts.
“There isn’t much buying interest from overseas now, so offers are all over the place,” said an international trader.
Market participants agreed that spot trades were limited and that offers were heard in a wide range within $30,000-$40,000/mt for lithium carbonate and $30,000-$60,000/mt for lithium hydroxide in the week to April 18.
Japanese and South Korean buyers were still seen adopting a wait-and-see approach as the domestic lithium market in China had yet to stabilize. Buyers were previously hesitant on buying as the domestic market was on a bear run.
The Platts $38,500/mt assessment for battery-grade lithium carbonate CIF North Asia was equivalent to Yuan 299,625/mt on a DDP China basis, including 13% value added tax, port and logistics costs.
The DDP China lithium carbonate price was assessed at Yuan 155,000/mt April 18, meaning the gap between seaborne prices were getting closer to Chinese domestic prices, now less than double the Chinese domestic prices.
The dollar was assessed at Yuan 6.8814 at 4:30 pm Singapore time.