Lithium Salt Market still Booming, While Cobalt Market Performed Less Well

SHANGHAI, Oct 21 (SMM) - Driven by tight supply and robust downstream demand, the SMM spot battery-grade lithium carbonate prices rose for 5 consecutive days this week, and the spot price of lithium hydroxide also increased.
 
Cobalt 

This week, the quotations of refined cobalt were relatively stable. As of October 21, the spot quotations of refined cobalt were 352,000-367,000 yuan/mt, and the average price was 359,500 yuan/mt, which was unchanged from the last trading day of last week.

The impact of the South African port strike on the domestic cobalt market has faded. Transactions were scarce in the domestic refined cobalt market. 

As of October 21, the spot quotations of cobalt sulphate were 63,000-64,000 yuan/mt, and the average price was 63,500 yuan/mt, which was 250 yuan/mt or 0.4% higher than the last trading day of last week. 

SMM research shows that the recent quotations of cobalt sulphate enterprises habe remained at around 63,000-64,000 yuan/mt, and the actual transaction price is in the range of 62,000-63,000 yuan/mt. Overseas cobalt prices have remained stable recently, thus cobalt sulphate costs saw little fluctuations. 

Lithium

As of October 21, the spot quotations of battery-grade lithium carbonate were 528,000-548,000 yuan/mt, and the average price was 538,000 yuan/mt, which was 12,000 yuan/mt or 2.28% higher than the last trading day of last week.

The auction of Pilbara’s spodumene concentrate was the most eye-catching this week. On October 18, Australian lithium miner Pilbara conducted a new round of pre-auction of lithium concentrate, with the bid price at about $7,100/mt, which was the highest price in its auction history. The amount of lithium concentrate in this auction is 5,000 mt, and the grade iss 5.5%. After being converted, the costs of 1 mt of LCE was roughly 510,000 yuan/mt. 

Pilbara admitted that its spodumene concentrate is in short supply. As of October 21, the spot price of spodumene concentrate (6%, CIF China) rose again, hitting $5,220-5,420/mt, with an average price of $5,320/mt, an increase of $3,170/mt or 147.44% from the beginning of the year.

Although the auction price hit a record high, the increase slowed slightly from the previous auction. In the short term, the output release of upstream lithium resources was lower than expected. However, in the medium and long term, the current situation of lithium resource shortage will be alleviated to some extent due to commissioning of new overseas mines and reconstruction of existing mines. 

As of October 21, the spot quotations of battery-grade lithium hydroxide rose to 523,000-538,000 yuan/mt, and the average price was 530,500 yuan/mt, which was 13,000 yuan/mt or 2.51% higher than the last trading day of last week.