The Rising Lithium Prices Have been Away from the Fundamentals, and a Mechanism Ensuring the Stability of Lithium Prices is Expected to be Establish

SHANGHAI, May 7 (SMM) - On April 28, CNIA held a press conference on the economic operation of non-ferrous metals industry in the first quarter in the form of video. Jia Mingxing, member of the Standing Committee of the Party committee and vice president of CNIA, introduced the relevant situation and answered the questions of media reporters and enterprise representatives.

In response to the question "How to view the sharp rise in the price of battery-grade lithium carbonate? What should China's lithium industry enterprises pay attention to? What are the arrangements for the follow-up pricing mechanism?”, Jia Mingxing said: “At this stage, the price of lithium carbonate has increased very greatly, but declined only slightly recently.  About 60% of China's lithium ores are imported. The main reasons for the rising prices are as follows. In terms of market demand, the demand for lithium from new energy has increased significantly while the supply channels are not smooth. Some countries have successively issued some policies on lithium mining, driving up the price of lithium.  At present, the lithium prices has been away from the fundamentals and I hope it can return to the industry itself. In terms of supply and demand, we still need to do some work. We hope to increase investment in scientific and technological innovation in resource exploitation and make supply more abundant. As the market demand continues to grow, the price of lithium will still rise in the short term. ”

CNIA and the lithium industry branch are studying relevant work, hoping to establish a mechanism that can ensure the stability of lithium prices.  

SMM data showed that the average price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate stood at 278,000 yuan/mt at the beginning of the year and once rose to 503,000 yuan/mt, an increase of 80.94%. Recently, due to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's series of policies on the maintenance of supply and stable lithium salt prices and the increasing supply and decreasing demand of fundamentals, the lithium carbonate prices have slightly declined. As of May 6, the spot price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate has been reduced to 450,000 - 473,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 461,500 yuan/mt.