Today, SMM's spot battery-grade lithium carbonate price fluctuated downward from the previous working day, while the most-traded futures contract also moved lower. After the opening, the price once climbed above 170,000 yuan/mt, then fluctuated downward all the way and finally closed at 157,000 yuan/mt. Open interest showed a declining trend throughout the day, falling by about 20,000 lots from the previous trading day by the close. Notably, the gap in open interest between the 2605 contract and the 2609 contract had narrowed to just 10,000 lots.
Spot market, upstream lithium chemical plants still quoted above 165,000 yuan/mt, but as prices kept falling, upstream sentiment to hold back sales strengthened somewhat, and actual willingness to sell weakened. By contrast, purchase willingness from downstream material plants did not recover significantly. At the beginning of the month, long-term contract volumes and customer-supplied volumes arrived one after another. Combined with restocking through dip-buying at the start of last week, downstream material plants had relatively sufficient inventory at the beginning of the month, with weak willingness to restock, and a small portion of procurement was only for rigid demand, with some purchases made on a post-pricing basis. Overall, market inquiries were relatively active, but actual transactions were slightly sluggish.
Supply side, repeated market speculation over Zimbabwe became an important trigger for the continued decline in lithium carbonate prices today, and some funds chose to close positions and exit. However, considering the current geopolitical fluctuations in the Middle East and the ongoing supply-side disruptions, lithium carbonate prices were expected to maintain a pattern of holding up well in the short term.
