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Australian miner Pilbara Minerals and US-based miner Albemarle have both conducted online bidding events for spot sales of their spodumene in the past month to raise transparency of prices in the spodumene market.
Pilbara Minerals had accepted an offer for 5,000 dry metric tonnes (dmt) of spodumene concentrate at $1,106 per dmt on a SC5.5 CIF China basis made before an auction scheduled for March 18 on the company’s digital platform Battery Material Exchange.
Albemarle concluded its online bidding event on March 26 at 9,372 yuan ($1,295) per tonne on an ex-works China basis for 10,000 tonnes of SC5.77 spodumene concentrate. The company also has plans for another digital bidding event for spodumene concentrate on April 24, sources said.
Pilbara Minerals hosted auctions regularly for spot spodumene concentrate in 2021 and 2022 when lithium prices were soaring. The events helped raise price transparency in the spodumene market then, given the persistently thin spot liquidity of the material at that time, sources told Fastmarkets.
The renewed interest in online bidding for spodumene further cements the emphasis “on promoting price transparency and allowing participants to state what they consider the appropriate price to be through private bids,” Albemarle said on March 13.
Several other spodumene producers also told Fastmarkets that they welcomed the idea of a trading platform for spodumene, given that consumers had been locking in the majority of their supplies under long-term contracts.
Fastmarkets had also observed an increase in spot transactions in the past year, following the influx of spodumene online.
As such, Fastmarkets proposed to increase the frequency of MB-LI-0012 Spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China, $/tonne to a daily basis from the current twice-a-week basis.
Fastmarkets’ twice-weekly assessment of spodumene min 6% Li2O, spot price, cif China was $1,150-1,250 per tonne Friday April 12, up from $1,100-1,250 per tonne on April 10.
Oversupply of cobalt hydroxide and weak demand for downstream cobalt sulfate have continued to curb the rise in cobalt prices.
Cobalt hydroxide prices rose in the first quarter of 2024 due to logistic delays from Durban in South Africa, a key port to deliver cobalt hydroxide to China. But an increase in prices have been subdued since April due to weak downstream demand and a dip in cobalt sulfate prices.
“Though there is shipping delay for three to four weeks for delivering cobalt hydroxide to China…We are in no hurry to buy more cobalt hydroxide considering the sluggish cobalt sulfate market and expectations of much lower prices later,” a consumer of cobalt hydroxide said.
Slow downstream demand and sufficient supply are among factors that have halted the climb in cobalt sulfate prices in end-March and led to a dip subsequently, sources said.
“With too much supply and not enough demand, prices for cobalt sulfate have been on the decline. Producers of cobalt sulfate are forced to accept lower prices considering the sluggish market,” a cobalt sulfate producer said.
Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for cobalt hydroxide, 30% Co min, cif China was $6.85 -7.15 per lb on April 12, down by $0.05-0.15 per lb from $7.00-7.20 per lb from April 10 and also down by $0.80 per lb from $7.10-7.25 per lb on March 28 where it stayed at the highest level so far in 2024 and remained unchanged since March 12.
Fastmarkets’ weekly assessment for cobalt sulfate 20.5% Co basis, exw China was 31,500-32,000 yuan per tonne on April 12, down by 300-500 yuan per tonne from 31,800-32,500 yuan per tonne on April 10 and also down by 1,500-2,000 yuan per tonne from 33,000-34,000 yuan per tonne on March 22, where it stayed at the highest level so far in 2024 and remain unchanged since March 15.
There has been an easing in bearish sentiment toward nickel prices following a nascent recovery in demand in the sluggish electric vehicle (EV) sector and supply headwinds from Indonesia, sources said.
“The recent increase in nickel prices could be due to the improvement in battery and uncertainties over Indonesian supplies,” an international trader said.
The benchmark nickel price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $17,905 per tonne on April 11, down by 4.7% from a year-to-date high of $18,795 per tonne on April 10 but up by 6.6% from $16,795 per tonne at the start of 2024.
The benchmark nickel price on the London Metal Exchange was the worst performing base metal in 2023, losing as much as 45% of its value since the start of 2024.
Uncertainties surrounding Indonesian mining quota approvals have also raised concerns over nickel ore supplies, sources said.
The Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has granted 107 work plans for the nickel industry, with up to 153 million tonnes of nickel ore approved so far. The ministry is working to approve more mining quotas but have not provided a timeline.
“We feel that the mining quota situation in Indonesia will ultimately prove to be a net restraint on nickel supply growth, so it will be supportive for the nickel market and prices overall,” Fastmarkets analyst Andy Farida said.
Nickel sulfate prices have also been climbing steadily due to stronger demand from the battery sector.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for nickel sulfate min 21%, max 22.5%; cobalt 10ppm max, exw China was 29,000-29,500 yuan ($3,193-3,248) per tonne on April 12, up by 14.7% from 25,000-26,000 yuan per tonne at the start of 2024.
While slow anode demand had weighed on both synthetic and natural graphite feedstock in 2023, the recent improvement in downstream anode orders have led to prices of synthetic and natural graphite feedstock moving in opposite directions.
Fastmarkets’ assessment for petroleum needle coke 0.5% S, ex-works China, which is a major feedstock for the production of synthetic graphite anodes, was 4,900-5,200 yuan per tonne on March 27, up by 4.12% from 4,700-5,000 yuan per tonne on March 13.
Needle coke prices remained stable on firm fundamentals in the first two weeks of April, ahead of another round of restocking activities by anode producers in the second half of April, sources said.
On the other hand, Fastmarkets’ assessment for graphite flake 94% C, -100 mesh, fob China, which is a major feedstock for the production of natural graphite anodes, was $460-510 per tonne on April 11, down by 1.03% to from $470-510 per tonne on March 14.
Differences in the supply and demand of synthetic and natural graphite feedstock could be a key reason for their price movements, sources said.
Lower costs for synthetic graphite anode production raised the demand for synthetic graphite feedstock and in turn, ramped its market share up to almost 90% in 2023, hence lowering the market share for natural graphite feedstock to 10% in 2023, from 20% in 2022, sources told Fastmarkets.
On the supply side, producers are shifting toward the production of calcined needle coke, which is the feedstock for graphite electrodes, and reducing their inventories of green needle coke, which is used for anode production, a trader source said.
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