Price trend

According to the monitoring of the Commodity Market Analysis System of SunSirs, the prices of industrial grade and battery grade lithium carbonate continued to rise after the May Day holiday. On May 11th, the average domestic mixed price of industrial grade lithium carbonate was 217,000 RMB/ton, an increase of 24.71% compared to the average price of 174,000 RMB/ton on May 1st. On May 11th, the average domestic mixed price of battery grade lithium carbonate was 239,000 RMB/ton, an increase of 19.5% compared to the average price of 200,000 RMB/ton on May 1st.

Analysis review

By observing market changes, it can be seen that the price of lithium carbonate had continued its performance at the end of April and was still showing an upward trend. In terms of supply, due to the limited supply of upstream raw material lithium mica, and the high price of overseas imported spodumene concentrate. This caused some mica enterprises and lithium salt factories to continue to have a large number of outsourcing and production reduction due to cost inversion and other issues, driving the recent decline in lithium carbonate operating rates, resulting in a shortage of spot supply in the market and a sustained increase in lithium carbonate prices.

In terms of demand, market activity remained strong after the May Day holiday, with high enthusiasm for market inquiries. Coupled with the reluctance of sellers, the market became increasingly tight, leading to an increase in demand for lithium carbonate and a sustained upward trend in prices. Downstream funding issues were still ongoing, and demand recovery was poor. Specifically, the marginal investment in real estate was weakened again and was still bottoming out in the short term, with weak support for the cement market.

Downstream lithium hydroxide prices stopped falling and increased. Affected by the upward trend in lithium carbonate prices, the prices of "carbon" and "hydrogen" were repaired, and market support increased. Although market demand had not improved, prices had slightly improved and rebounded due to long-term orders from various parties.

The price of downstream ferrous lithium phosphate remained generally stable, with the recent rebound in the price of the main raw material lithium carbonate. Ferrous lithium phosphate enterprises had slightly restocked their raw materials and still purchased on demand. However, there had not been a significant recovery in the actual market demand, so ferrous lithium phosphate enterprises had stable quotations and continued to destock.

Market outlook

Lithium carbonate analysts from SunSirs believed that as of November 11, the price of lithium carbonate was heavily guided by market sentiment. Although the spot inquiry was active, the market was reluctant to sell. In addition, due to factors such as upstream production reduction, terminal consumption, and inventory reduction, it is expected that the price of lithium carbonate may continue to be stronger in the short term.

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