[SMM Daily Review: 7 August – Spot Prices for Lithium Carbonate Continue to Rise]
Today, SMM’s spot prices for battery-grade lithium carbonate continued to rise compared with the previous working day. The lithium carbonate 2609 futures contract opened higher today at 142,900 yuan per tonne; after opening, it briefly dipped to around 141,000 yuan per tonne before finding support, with bullish capital driving a volatile rebound; During the morning session, prices fluctuated firmly within the 142,000–143,500 yuan range, with the centre of gravity gradually shifting upwards; as the morning session drew to a close, bulls made a concerted push, driving prices rapidly to 144,800 yuan per tonne—an intraday high—before encountering selling pressure from bears and profit-taking, leading to a volatile pullback; In the afternoon, prices continued to weaken and broke below the moving average line; towards the close, short sellers applied pressure once more, causing prices to accelerate their decline to 139,600 yuan per tonne. The market ultimately closed down 0.7 per cent at 140,000 yuan per tonne, with open interest falling by 7,873 contracts.
In the spot market, downstream buyers purchased on an as-needed basis at lower levels, with little enthusiasm for large-scale stockpiling; whilst some upstream manufacturers showed a slightly weaker willingness to support prices, most continued to prioritise fulfilling long-term contract orders due to maintenance work, resulting in limited sales of spot orders. Overall, both market enquiries and actual transactions remained relatively stable.
