Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate prices down
2023-03-09 00:41:03 [Print]
Beijing (Asian metal) 9 Mar 23 - Due to weak demand of NEV market, Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate suppliers continued decreasing their prices this week. Today, the mainstream prices of lithium carbonate 99%min, Na 0.15%max, K 0.2%max stand at RMB285,000-290,000/t (USD40,883-41,600/t) delivered D/P, down by about RMB20,000/t (USD2,869/t) from late last week. Several traders bought this material to process battery grade lithium carbonate recently, while consumers still bought from hand to mouth for immediate consumption. Considering the soft demand, insiders predict that the mainstream prices of industrial grade lithium carbonate in China will go down further this week.
"We got an offer of lithium carbonate 99.2%min at RMB285,000/t (USD40,883/t) delivered D/P and the supplier refused prices lower than RMB283,000/t (USD40,596/t) this week. We bought 60t at RMB283,000/t (USD40,596/t) yesterday", said a trader in South China, adding that they bought more than 100t yesterday at prices from RMB280,000-285,000/t (USD40,166-40,883/t) delivered D/P from different suppliers planning to process it into battery grade lithium carbonate due to the big price range between battery grade lithium carbonate and industrial grade lithium carbonate. The trader noted that prices of lithium carbonate 99.2%min stood at RMB300,000-310,000/t (USD43,035-44,469/t) delivered D/P late last week, when they placed no orders. Given the prices already stand at the low level, they expect the mainstream prices of Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate would remain at the current level this week.
With a regular monthly trading volume of about 400t, the trader plans to sell about 500t this month, up by about 100t MoM. They hold about 100t of inventory currently.
"We offer RMB300,000/t (USD43,035/t) delivered D/P without any concession for lithium carbonate 99.5%min, Na 0.15%max, Magnet 0.6%max this week. Some traders bargained for RMB280,000/t (USD40,166/t) delivered D/P today, but we refused", said a producer in North China, who quoted RMB315,000/t (USD45,187/t) delivered D/P and refused any lower prices late last week, when they sold 60t at this price. The producer disclosed that 4-5 consumers would like to sign long-term orders with them based on the lowest website price on the last day of each month, but they refused. Given the weak demand of cathode producers, they anticipate that the mainstream prices of Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate would move down further this week.
Based on an annual production capacity of 18,000t, they plan to produce about 300t this month, without much change MoM. They hold about 90t for the time being.
"We got an offer of lithium carbonate 99.2%min at RMB285,000/t (USD40,883/t) delivered D/P and the supplier refused prices lower than RMB283,000/t (USD40,596/t) this week. We bought 60t at RMB283,000/t (USD40,596/t) yesterday", said a trader in South China, adding that they bought more than 100t yesterday at prices from RMB280,000-285,000/t (USD40,166-40,883/t) delivered D/P from different suppliers planning to process it into battery grade lithium carbonate due to the big price range between battery grade lithium carbonate and industrial grade lithium carbonate. The trader noted that prices of lithium carbonate 99.2%min stood at RMB300,000-310,000/t (USD43,035-44,469/t) delivered D/P late last week, when they placed no orders. Given the prices already stand at the low level, they expect the mainstream prices of Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate would remain at the current level this week.
With a regular monthly trading volume of about 400t, the trader plans to sell about 500t this month, up by about 100t MoM. They hold about 100t of inventory currently.
"We offer RMB300,000/t (USD43,035/t) delivered D/P without any concession for lithium carbonate 99.5%min, Na 0.15%max, Magnet 0.6%max this week. Some traders bargained for RMB280,000/t (USD40,166/t) delivered D/P today, but we refused", said a producer in North China, who quoted RMB315,000/t (USD45,187/t) delivered D/P and refused any lower prices late last week, when they sold 60t at this price. The producer disclosed that 4-5 consumers would like to sign long-term orders with them based on the lowest website price on the last day of each month, but they refused. Given the weak demand of cathode producers, they anticipate that the mainstream prices of Chinese industrial grade lithium carbonate would move down further this week.
Based on an annual production capacity of 18,000t, they plan to produce about 300t this month, without much change MoM. They hold about 90t for the time being.
