SHANGHAI, Aug 24 (SMM) - Lithium hydroxide prices, after rising constantly for more than one year, entered a "cooling-off period" tailing a slight decline at the end of April! The lithium carbonate prices returned to the upward channel recently, which has triggered extensive concerns about whether lithium hydroxide prices will rise along. Today, the prices of lithium hydroxide that have been silent for more than three months rebounded, and the average price returned to 470,000 yuan/mt mark.
According to SMM prices, as of August 24, the prices of industrial-grade, battery-grade coarse particle and battery-grade micro powder lithium hydroxide all ushered in a wave of increase by 2,500 yuan/mt. Among them, the spot price of industrial-grade lithium hydroxide rose to 448,000-462,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 455,000 yuan/mt; battery-grade micro-powder lithium hydroxide 471,000-485,000 yuan/mt, with an average of 478,000 yuan/mt; and battery-grade coarse particle lithium hydroxide 463,000 to 477,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 470,000 yuan/mt.
The prices of lithium hydroxide rose for the following reasons:
According to previous research by SMM, due to the recent increase in the prices of lithium carbonate, some manufacturers recovered crude lithium carbonate to produce lithium hydroxide on cost concerns. The actual use of lithium hydroxide overseas increased slightly, but the growth was less than expected, and the prices were relatively stable. It is expected that with the price transmission of lithium carbonate at the end of August, the prices of lithium hydroxide will rise slightly.
The prices of lithium carbonate are indeed on the rise recently. Taking battery-grade lithium carbonate as an example, its spot price has successfully risen above 480,000 yuan/mt. As of August 24, the spot price of domestic battery-grade lithium carbonate stood at 480,000-488,000 yua/mt, with an average price of 484,000 yuan/mt, an increase of 22,500 yuan/mt from the previous low of 461,500 yuan/mt.
It is worth mentioning that lithium carbonate prices rose fiercely in 2021 and the first quarter of 2022, and its spot price has been higher than lithium hydroxide for a long time. But this situation reversed on April 21. With downstream consumption contained by the pandemic outbreak and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s commitment to stabilising prices of lithium salt products, the average spot price of lithium carbonate fell below that of lithium hydroxide for the first time in 2022. By then, the average spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate fell to 475,500 yuan/mt, while that of battery-grade lithium hydroxide was 478,500 yuan/mt. When it came to April 26, battery-grade lithium carbonate prices fell to the year-to-date low of 461,500 yuan/mt, and battery-grade lithium hydroxide also recorded the YTD low at 467,500 yuan/mt on May 12, and remained stable until now. On August 24, lithium hydroxide prices successfully broke through the 470,000 yuan/mt mark.
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