Qinghai HXR Lithium Tech to resume lithium carbonate production
2020-12-29 11:26:45 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 29 Dec 20 - Owing to tight supply of raw material brine, Qinghai HXR Lithium Tech Ltd. suspended its lithium carbonate production in mid-December and expects to resume production after the New Year's Day; its output in December is only 100t, a source from the company revealed.
"Owing to difficulties in sourcing raw material brine, we suspended lithium carbonate in mid-December with only around 100t of the material produced this month. As tightness in brine supply is abating, we expect to resume production after the New Year's Day holiday with our daily lithium carbonate output to reach around 13t then," the source said, adding that they quote lithium carbonate 99%min at as high as RMB51,000/t (USD7,805/t) now since they have limited spot stocks, but have made no sales yet. According to the source, the lithium carbonate market is expected to continue to see tight spot supply and lithium carbonate prices are expected to rise further by at least RMB2,000/t (USD306/t) in the coming week. The company is located in Haixi Mongolian and Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, and purchases brine produced by CITIC Guo'an Group to produce lithium carbonate via membrane-filtering process.
With an annual production capacity of 18,000t, the company produced about 4,500t in 2019 and about 3,000t in H1 2020, expecting to produce about 100t in December, down by nearly 180t MOM. It holds about 60t of stocks now.
Currently in China, mainstream prices for lithium carbonate 99%min are RMB46,000-49,000/t (USD7,039-7,499/t) delivered D/P, up by over RMB2,000/t (USD306/t) from one week ago. As it gets colder in Qinghai in the fourth quarter, many local lithium salt producers cut their production, further compounding tightness in lithium carbonate supply on the spot market. Insiders believe that lithium carbonate prices would move up further in the coming week.
"Owing to difficulties in sourcing raw material brine, we suspended lithium carbonate in mid-December with only around 100t of the material produced this month. As tightness in brine supply is abating, we expect to resume production after the New Year's Day holiday with our daily lithium carbonate output to reach around 13t then," the source said, adding that they quote lithium carbonate 99%min at as high as RMB51,000/t (USD7,805/t) now since they have limited spot stocks, but have made no sales yet. According to the source, the lithium carbonate market is expected to continue to see tight spot supply and lithium carbonate prices are expected to rise further by at least RMB2,000/t (USD306/t) in the coming week. The company is located in Haixi Mongolian and Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, and purchases brine produced by CITIC Guo'an Group to produce lithium carbonate via membrane-filtering process.
With an annual production capacity of 18,000t, the company produced about 4,500t in 2019 and about 3,000t in H1 2020, expecting to produce about 100t in December, down by nearly 180t MOM. It holds about 60t of stocks now.
Currently in China, mainstream prices for lithium carbonate 99%min are RMB46,000-49,000/t (USD7,039-7,499/t) delivered D/P, up by over RMB2,000/t (USD306/t) from one week ago. As it gets colder in Qinghai in the fourth quarter, many local lithium salt producers cut their production, further compounding tightness in lithium carbonate supply on the spot market. Insiders believe that lithium carbonate prices would move up further in the coming week.
Lithium Carbonate 99.5%min Delivered EU
Unit:USD/kg
China lithium carbonate 99.5%mi producers' inventory statistics by province by month
Unit: mt
