Lithium-ion battery output up 9.4% YoY in Jan-Nov

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.27 million mt per day in the first ten days of April, up 2.88% from late March and up 16.86% from the same period a year ago.

The China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) reported that crude steel output across major mills in China averaged 2.14 million mt per day in the second 10 days of December, down 0.04% from early December and up 13.49% from the same period a year ago.

Ganfeng Lithium, a top lithium producer in China, has said it is stepping up efforts to construct a lithium hydroxide expansion project, with an annualised capacity of 50,000 mt, to catch up with the schedule delayed by the coronavirus outbreak. The project is slated to come online in Q4 this year.

The short-term supply tightness of cobalt raw materials lifted cobalt salt prices last week, but limited trades and continued weakness in consumption may cap any rebound in the near-term prices. Prices of lithium carbonate will unlikely to extend declines given the raw materials costs and the trade prospects in Q2 this year. 

China's Sichuan Yahua Industrial Group said Tuesday that it had put its new lithium hydroxide project in the city of Ya’an in southwest China's Sichuan province into operation.

China’s spodumene concentrate inventories saw an addition of 3,343 mt of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) in the first quarter, which together with an inventory draw of 1,765 mt of LCE in overseas stocks, led to a build of 1,578 mt of LCE in the global spodumene inventories in Q1, showed SMM calculations. 

China produced about 3,500 mt in metal content of cobalt sulphate in March, 94% higher on the month, showed SMM data, as cobalt salt producers resumed 70-80% of their capacity last month amid a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus in China. 

Planned output of construction steel rebar across China’s major blast furnace steelmakers in April stood roughly flat from the actual production in March, as the impact of maintenance may offset the increase in output driven by higher profits. 

Full resumption of industrial production is expected across China on March 15, including producers in Hubei, the epicentre of the coronavirus, the latest SMM survey showed. Companies in Hubei are currently in preparation for the recovery. The operating rates of Chinese cobalt salts plants are expected to rise to normal levels in March, from only 30-40% in February. As of March 11, the rates stood at 50-60% for most cobalt salts mills.

Major downstream producers will continue to purchase feedstock to fulfil orders received pre-holiday, and this will support cobalt salts prices in the second half of February.