[SMM Weekly Review] Prices fell by nearly 2,000 this week! Sellers and buyers continue to engage in a tug-of-war

This week, the lithium carbonate market continued its downward trend. The SMM index price for battery-grade lithium carbonate fell from 67,184 yuan/mt to 65,346 yuan/mt, a cumulative decline of 1,838 yuan/mt. The average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate dropped from 67,100 yuan/mt to 65,250 yuan/mt, a cumulative decrease of 1,850 yuan/mt. The average price of industrial-grade lithium carbonate decreased from 65,400 yuan/mt to 63,600 yuan/mt, a cumulative fall of 1,800 yuan/mt. The center of spot transaction prices for lithium carbonate continued to move downward.

On the demand side, as the proportion of customer-supplied materials from leading battery cell manufacturers continued to rise, downstream material plants showed weak willingness to purchase spot orders, generally adopting a wait-and-see attitude, anticipating further price declines. This led to overall sluggish market demand. On the supply side, although some lithium chemical plants have reduced or halted production to varying degrees due to cost pressures, the total output of lithium carbonate remained high amidst robust supply from first- and second-tier lithium chemical plants. Coupled with a significant buildup of lithium carbonate inventory, the persistent oversupply situation continued to drag down spot lithium carbonate prices.

In terms of market transactions, the sharp decline in lithium carbonate prices triggered a sentiment to stand firm on quotes among upstream lithium chemical plants, resulting in extremely weak willingness to sell. Downstream players also generally adopted a wait-and-see attitude, with only a few material plants and traders engaging in limited transactions. Overall, the transaction situation in the lithium carbonate market was relatively mediocre, with low market activity.