Guangxi Tianyuan New Energy Material to see first batch of lithium carbonate output in late May

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.

Phase-one project is designed with an annualised capacity of 15,000 mt of lithium hydroxide and 10,000 mt of lithium carbonate. Full operation of the second phase of the project is expected to bring about an output value of 3.3 billion yuan per year. 

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. 

The global widespread of COVID-19 has forced many countries to enforce stringent containment measures which result in a heavy impact on global economic activity. Over the past few months, we saw serious disruption of manpower, transportation and production in China. We are now seeing these scenarios happening around the world.

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..

The widespread coronavirus has deterred production of NEVs in the European countries, and this may impact the global prospects for NEV production and take a toll on the consumption of raw materials. Last week, bearish sentiment continued to prevail in the cobalt market, which depressed downstream purchases and added to upstream inventory pressure. Sluggish demand reduced prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate, which were underpinned by costs, while fundamentals supported prices of industrial-grade lithium carbonate. 

Industrial activity levels outside of central China continues to improve as workers return from quarantine periods and logistics pressures eased.