Critical battery mineral lithium carbonate witnessed a price decline to below key level in the world’s largest auto market, China.
Lithium carbonate price per ton dropped below RMB 200,000 to RMB 198,500 ($27,030) on September 8. This figure represents a day-on-day decline of 1.49% or RMB 3,000, CnEVPost reports, citing Mysteel’s data.
Lithium carbonate’s price changes in China
Before the September 8 record, lithium carbonate’s average price also declined to RMB 198,500/ton on September 1.
According to the report, it is the first time that the price declined below the key level since May 10.
Its price surged to approximately RMB 600,000/ton sometime in November 2022. It represents around 14 fold increase from June 2020’s average price of 41,000/ton.
However, its prices continue declining since that peak until the end of April 2023. It managed to recover in Q2 2023 but suffered a price drop again.
The price rebound saw a significant increase of approximately 75% to RMB 315,000 on June 9 from just RMB 180,000 on April 25. However, the industry failed to maintain this rebound, with a subsequent drop of 37%.
Factors reducing the price of lithium carbonate
Securities Daily stated that the declining prices of lithium carbonate are largely due to increased supply and discoveries of new battery chemistries.
For instance, established EV companies like Toyota are now actively working on developing solid-state batteries. Others are exploring the capabilities of sodium-ion batteries.
How can it benefit the EV industry?
The declining lithium carbonate prices can significantly aid the electric vehicle industry offer more affordable models.
The battery takes a large share of the electric vehicle production expenses. Critical minerals like lithium are hard to mine and process. That said, its prices were originally very expensive.
Fortunately for electric automakers and battery makers, battery-grade lithium carbonate prices started to decline.
Put simply, cheaper battery materials equate to cheaper production costs, enabling a low-cost product.
In effect, NEV sales in the country surged to a record-breaking 716,000 units in August, Finance News Network indicated.
See Also:
- China: Lithium prices suffered the largest decline in 2023
- Lithium prices fell fastest in China this year
- CATL advances as the most valuable private energy company in China
- Global supply shortage looms for EV Demand, lithium
- Lithium costs rebounded as electric vehicle demand
- CATL records new high in its Q1 net profit growth as lithium prices drop
TrendForce argued in its recent report that the continuous decline in China’s lithium prices will stop this month as suppliers start reducing production.
Lithium suppliers apparently cut production as power battery demand expands slowly. They aim to ramp up production from September to October as they expect the demand to grow in this period.
