In 2018, with the concentrated release of lithium concentrate production capacity in Western Australia, China’s smelting companies such as Sichuan Zhiyuan Lithium doubled their lithium carbonate production capacity since July of the same year. Therefore, domestic smelting companies imported more lithium concentrates, while the imported lithium carbonates decreased, which dropped from 30,700 mt in 2017 to 24,500 mt in 2018.

SMM lithium team visited lithium salts plants in Jiangxi from March 2 to investigate their new projects and projects under construction. As an important area for lithium smelting, Jiangxi currently has 7 smelters with a capacity of more than 10,000 mt, 4 of which use lepidolite concentrate as a main raw material. 

Tianqi Lithium's share prices had surged from April 2020 amid development of new energy vehicles (NEVs), but dropped rapidly after the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday. 

China’s lithium carbonate imports and the average import price both increased in October, customs data showed. 

Prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate have been climbing steadily recently.

China imported 9.54 million mt of bauxite in May, down 3.98% from the previous month but up 3.57% from the same month of 2019, according to China customs data under HS code 26060000.

Inventory pressure of lithium carbonate, a raw material for digital and power batteries, may continue to mount in April as Chinese lithium salt producers have not yet planned to wind down production. Elevated inventories together with limited downsides in lithium carbonate prices with support from costs, however, may trigger output cut in the second quarter. 

Prices of industrial-grade lithium carbonate eased on Monday March 30 after held firm for most of March, showed SMM assessments. Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices, however, are expected to face..

Japan’s Panasonic and PEVE, South Korea’s LG Chem, Samsung SDI and SKI were among the world’s top 10 EV battery producers in terms of shipments in 2019, according to data from SNE. The two countries are also home to many cathode materials producers.

SMM assessed industrial-grade lithium carbonate at 38,000-42,000 yuan/mt as of Thursday March 5, up 3.9% from multi-year lows of 37,000-40,000 yuan/mt.