Price trend

According to the data monitoring of SunSirs, the price of industrial and battery grade lithium carbonate showed a downward trend in January 2023. As of January 29, the average domestic mixed price of industrial grade lithium carbonate was 473,600 RMB/ton, a decrease of 6.03% compared with the average price of 504,000 RMB/ton on January 1. The average domestic mixed price of battery grade lithium carbonate on January 29 was 495,600 RMB/ton, down 5.6% from the average price of 525,000 RMB/ton on January 1.

Analysis review

From the observation of market changes, the price of lithium carbonate was in a downward trend after the New Year's Day, and the downward trend had continued until the end of the month. Due to the poor market demand near the Spring Festival holiday, the lithium salt factory continued to reduce the psychological expectation of the transaction price, and there were a very small number of retail transactions. Traders had sufficient supply of goods, and most of them were in the state of low price shipment. Subsequently, the logistics was shut down, and most of the manufacturers had taken a holiday, most of which were non-quoted or stable. However, there were still some large lithium salt manufacturers that had shipping behavior due to inventory pressure, which had driven the market price of sporadic orders down.

In terms of demand, orders in the downstream market had been seriously reduced, lithium salt reserves were sufficient, and the approach of the Spring Festival holiday made downstream enterprises have gradually entered the state of preparing for or having a holiday, and there was no purchase demand for the time being. The expected price of the market kept falling, and the pessimism was heavy.

The downstream lithium hydroxide market was stable and had declined. Due to the weak operation of lithium carbonate this month, the support for lithium hydroxide market was weaker, the supply side was stable, the export order performance was fair, the domestic demand performance was flat, the downstream procurement enthusiasm was not high, and the lithium hydroxide market negotiation focus was weaker.

The price of lithium iron phosphate in the downstream was weak and downward, and the price was slightly reduced. The downstream purchased just on demand, the logistics was slow, and the weak operation will be maintained in the short term. The manufacturers only supplied for old customers, and new customers did not accept orders.

Market outlook

According to the lithium carbonate analyst of SunSirs, manufacturers and traders gradually enter the production and sales recovery stage after the year, and the prices are mostly stable. There is no purchase demand for the cathode factory in the short term after the year. It is expected that the lithium carbonate price will continue to be weak and volatile in the short term after the year.

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