According to the monitoring of the commodity market analysis system of Business Society, the prices of industrial grade and battery grade lithium carbonate continued to decline this week, and the price of lithium carbonate can be said to have plummeted. On December 7th, the average domestic mixed price of industrial grade lithium carbonate was 110000 yuan/ton, a decrease of 10.86% compared to the average price of 123400 yuan/ton on December 1st. On December 7th, the average domestic mixed price of battery grade lithium carbonate was 119400 yuan/ton, a decrease of 10.9% compared to the average price of 134000 yuan/ton on December 1st.

By observing market changes, it can be seen that lithium carbonate prices have been in a continuous downward trend since December, and lithium carbonate futures prices have fallen deeply for several consecutive days, with the highest daily decline reaching 7%. In terms of supply, after the large salt lake factory released goods last week, the market has a relatively sufficient supply of spot goods. In addition, Zhili’s exports to domestic lithium carbonate in October have recently arrived in Hong Kong one after another. Although most of this lithium carbonate is reserved for long-term orders, it will still bring an increase in market supply in the short term. Trading companies are also continuously in a strategy of selling individual orders at low prices.

In terms of demand, downstream positive electrode material companies are still in a low mood for purchasing goods, only replenishing inventory sporadically during periods of low prices. However, due to the continuous decline in prices, downstream positive electrode material companies are also relatively cautious in their willingness to purchase loose orders. Some individual positive electrode materials have the idea of clearing their raw material inventory before the end of the year, making it difficult for short-term market procurement demand to increase.

The price of lithium hydroxide is showing a downward trend, affected by the decline in upstream spodumene concentrate prices and the weak operation of the lithium carbonate market. Cost support is weak, and downstream demand for high nickel materials is limited. The market trading atmosphere is light, and the focus of negotiations in the lithium hydroxide market is weak.

Downstream prices of lithium iron phosphate have declined, with few individual trades in the market, mainly long orders. On the cost side, the price of lithium salts has fallen, and the price of iron phosphate is also falling, leading to a decrease in the production cost of iron lithium materials. There is no significant increase in demand for the demand side, power side, and energy storage side, and the finished battery cells are still being stocked, resulting in limited procurement of lithium iron phosphate.

In terms of futures, lithium carbonate futures have fallen on 17 of the past 18 trading days, and hit the limit on November 22, November 27, and December 5, respectively. Futures prices have repeatedly hit new lows on the market. On December 7th, the main contracts and other contracts of lithium carbonate futures on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange rose the limit one after another. On December 7th, the opening price of the LC2401 contract was 93300 yuan/ton, with the highest price of 95600 yuan/ton and the latest price of 95600 yuan/ton, with a daily increase of 6.99%. The transaction volume was 182000 lots and the position was 124068 lots.

According to analysts from Shengyishe Lithium Carbonate, in the current situation of imbalanced supply and demand of mobile lithium carbonate, spot prices will still be under pressure. However, the decline in lithium carbonate prices has already brought great pressure to some high cost lithium salt enterprises, and upstream lithium salt factories have a high proportion of losses. Therefore, lithium salt enterprises often formulate production plans based on long-term sales. With the arrival of winter, lithium carbonate is in the off-season of production, so the supply will slow down. It is expected that the spot price of lithium carbonate will continue to operate weakly under pressure in the short term.