[SMM Analysis] the price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide has fallen by more than 14% this year.

SMM11, March 27: according to SMM research, the price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide has shown an overall downward trend since the end of March. Since the end of October, the price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide has been maintained at 48000 yuan / ton, down 14.29% from the highest level since the beginning of the year.

Lithium hydroxide (56.5% battery grade coarse particles / domestic) price

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At present, the shipping price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide in some small and medium-sized enterprises is close to industrial-grade lithium hydroxide. However, due to entering the mainstream high-nickel industry chain, the transaction situation is stable. Recently, with the upward price of lithium carbonate, the domestic two-level differentiation is becoming more and more serious.

SMM believes that there is no significant change in the cost support price of lithium hydroxide in the near future, but the recent transaction price has been less than 45000 yuan / ton. The domestic demand for high nickel in the fourth quarter is the highest for the whole year, but the production of lithium salt plants continues to cause a serious accumulation of stockpiles. At the end of the year, some manufacturers may sell goods at low prices due to the withdrawal of funds, which is difficult to support, and may continue to decline in December.

Although the current price of battery-grade lithium hydroxide is not satisfactory, the trend of electrification of global passenger vehicles has accelerated significantly due to the influence of European carbon emissions policy and China's favorable policy on new energy. The uptrend of downstream demand is good for battery-grade lithium hydroxide. SMM believes that the demand for lithium hydroxide from high nickel will grow at an average annual rate of 50% in the next three years, and the domestic supply will gradually tighten and the price will be favorable.

On October 30, Jiangxi Ganfeng Lithium Industry Co., Ltd. started the lithium hydroxide expansion project with an annual output of 50,000 tons at the end of October this year, and began trial production in November. It will take about three months to climb the production capacity and will be officially put into production in the first quarter of next year.

Guangdong Weihua Co., Ltd. plans to invest in the project with an annual output of 30, 000 tons of lithium hydroxide through Suining Shengxin Lithium Industry Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary, with a total investment of RMB 1.2 billion yuan. among them, the first phase of the project with an annual production capacity of 20, 000 tons of lithium hydroxide will start construction this year, and the first phase of construction investment will be RMB 850 million yuan.

At the end of September, Tesla planned to build a lithium hydroxide refinery near the superplant in Austin, Texas, to convert spodumene into lithium hydroxide, the raw material needed to produce batteries, with a target operating date of the fourth quarter of 2022.

On the morning of May 18, the official production ceremony of Ya'an Lithium Industry was held in Yahua Park, Ya'an Economic Development District, marking the official commissioning of the Ya'an Lithium Industry Project with an annual production capacity of 20,000 tons of lithium hydroxide.