China's Lithium Hydroxide Import and Export Overview in November

[SMM analysis: The high abroad and low domestic aluminium prices drove the export volume of domestic unwrought aluminium and aluminium semis increasing significantly YoY in March] Since August 2021, China's unwrought aluminium and aluminium semis exports have increased significantly YoY, and reached a record high in the first quarter of this year. According to the short-term forecast, aluminium prices at home and abroad will fell in April, but the pattern of high abroad aluminium prices and low domestic aluminium prices will remain, and the domestic aluminium exports will remain high. However, since March, the domestic pandemic interfered with the operation and transportation of domestic aluminium processing enterprises, and ports in Shanghai and other regions were severely blocked.

[SMM analysis: Why did iron ore imports decline sharply in the peak season in March? It is expected to increase obviously in April.] According to the data from the General Administration of customs, China imported 87.283 million mt of iron ore and concentrate in March 2022, a month-on-month increase of 1.56% and a year-on-year decrease of 14.52%. From January to March 2022, the iron ore and concentrate imports totalled 268.36 million mt, a year-on-year decrease of 5.2%. March is the traditional peak season of steel production. However, China’s iron ore demand has decreased significantly due to multiple factors.

[General Administration of Customs: From January to March 2022, the import of steel decreased by 13.4% YoY and the exports decreased by 25.5% YoY] The General Administration of Customs released the Import and Export Value of Key Commodities in March on April 13. It showed that in terms of export, the exports of steel in March was 4.945 million mt, and the cumulative export volume from January to march was 13.179 million mt, a decrease of 25.5% year-on-year. The exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium in March were 594,400 mt, and the cumulative exports from January to March was 1.6283 million mt，up 26.7% year-on-year.

SMM data shows that the domestic spot quotations for battery-grade lithium carbonate stood at 460,000-468,000 yuan/mt as of February 25, with the average price at 464,000 yuan/mt, up 2,000 yuan/mt.

The five-year compound growth rate of global lithium carbonate smelting capacity is expected to stand at about 20.5% while the five-year compound growth rate of global lithium hydroxide smelting capacity is estimated to be 34.3%.

In the early morning of October 5, Chengxin Lithium sent its first batch of overseas project team in 2021 to the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP).

Hainan Mining announced on August 23 that the company plans to construct a 20,000 mt battery-grade lithium hydroxide project (Phase I) with the investment no more than 1.06 billion yuan.

Sinomine Resource Group has recently put its 25,000 mt/year battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate project in trial production.

China’s total exports of wrought manganese, manganese products, unwrought manganese and scrap materials and powder stood at 51,958.18 mt in June, up 70.96% month on month and 101.96% year on year, according to SMM statistics.

China imported 172,000 mt of secondary copper (including brass) raw materials in March, up 113.98 percentage points on the month and 90.57% on the year. CNY holidays accounted for the big increase in imports. Cargoes were scheduled to arrive in March due to CNY holidays when importers stopped operations and amid concerns over enhanced controls against COVID-19 during CNY.