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Lithium carbonate prices increased by over 40% - Benchmark

Michael McCrae

Kitco News

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence released a report today showing carbonate prices increasing by over 40% within China in January 2021 on the back of continued surging lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery demand.

Benchmark said that the midpoint, prevailing transacted price of the Benchmark Lithium Carbonate, Technical Grade, EXW China, ≥99.0% Li2CO3, increased by 41.35% to $8,375/tonne (RMB54,000/tonne). Meanwhile, the midpoint, prevailing transacted price of the Benchmark Lithium Carbonate, Battery Grade, EXW China, ≥99.5% Li2CO3, rose by 41.04% to $9,450/tonne (RMB61,000/tonne).

“Lithium ion battery related policy incentives in China are geared towards subsidising shorter-range vehicles, public transport fleet electrification, 5G power stations, all of which encourage LFP consumption.
“It’s back to the future for lithium in China," said lithium analyst, George Miller, at Benchmark.
“Demand for durable, improved, and low cost LFP cathode material has become rejuvenated in China – a very similar story to what we saw in lithium’s last price run of 2016 but with a much improved product for the 2020s."

By Michael McCrae

For Kitco News

Contact mmccrae@kitco.com
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