Fastmarkets amends specs of battery-grade seaborne Asian lithium prices

After a three-month consultation period, Fastmarkets is increasing the frequency of two battery-grade seaborne Asian lithium prices to daily from weekly, with the first daily prices assessed on Wednesday, December 1

Following a consultation between July 27 and October 26, Fastmarkets analysed all the feedback collected from the lithium supply chain and came to the decision to increase the pricing frequency of its battery-grade lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide price – assessed on a cif China, Japan and South Korea basis – to daily from weekly.

In addition, Fastmarkets has amended the names and specifications for its lithium hydroxide prices regarding the expressions of minimum content threshold for LiOH. This was previously wrongly stated as “56.5% LiOH.H2O min,” and now has been amended as “56.5% LiOH min.”

With the amendment of price names and expression of LiOH purity, the increased pricing frequency and the clarification of holiday pricing, the base specification of the two seaborne Asia lithium prices will be as follows, with the proposed changes marked in italics.

MB-LI-0029 Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade, spot prices cif China, Japan & Korea, $/kg

Quality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition: Li2CO3 99.5% min (min. 99.2% Li2CO3 accepted if it can be normalized to 99.5%); Na 0.060% max; Ca 0.016% max; Mg 0.008% max; magnetic impurities 300ppb max

Quantity: Min 5 tonnes

Location: cif main Chinese Japanese & South Korean ports (other ports normalized)

Timing: 60 days

Unit: USD/kg

Publication: Daily, Monday-Friday, 4pm London

Note: When the pricing day falls on a bank holiday in England and Wales, neither prices will be assessed or published.

MB-LI-0033 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O, 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price cif China, Japan & Korea, $/kg

Quantity: Min 5 tonnes

Quality: Powder, accepted by buyer for use in battery applications and with the chemical composition LiOH 56.5% min; CO2 <0.35%; Ca 0.020% max; SO4 0.015% max; Cl- 0.005% max

Quantity: Min 5 tonnes

Location: cif main Chinese Japanese & South Korean ports (other ports normalized)

Timing: 60 days

Unit: USD/kg

Publication: Daily, Monday-Friday, 4pm London

Note: When the pricing day falls on a bank holiday in England and Wales, neither prices will be assessed or published.

Following the amendment of price names regarding the expression of LiOH purity, Fastmarkets confirms the names of all its lithium hydroxide prices read as follows with changes in italics:

MB-LI-0040 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price range exw domestic China, yuan/tonne

MB-LI-0025 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, spot price ddp Europe and US, $/kg

MB-LI-0024 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, contract price ddp Europe and US, $/kg

MB-LI-0031 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea, $/kg

MB-LI-0038 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grade, spot price range exw domestic China, yuan/tonne

MB-LI-0032 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, spot price cif China, Japan & Korea, $/kg

MB-LI-0021 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, spot price ddp Europe and US, $/kg

MB-LI-0030 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea, $/ kg

MB-LI-0020 Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, technical and industrial grades, contract price ddp Europe and US, $/kg

The amendment of the expression of LiOH purity has also been made to the base specifications of the above prices, which can be found in Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents.

To provide feedback on Fastmarkets’ lithium price assessments, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact Dalila Ouerghi and Susan Zou by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading ‘FAO: Dalila Ouerghi/Susan Zou re: lithium price assessments.’

To see all of Fastmarkets’ pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/about-us/methodology.

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