On April 21, the spot price of lithium carbonate fluctuated and declined.

Today, the spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate has fluctuated and decreased compared to the previous trading day.
In terms of futures, the lithium carbonate 2609 contract opened today at 180.9k yuan/ton, then quickly declined after opening, with the early trading session oscillating downward and breaking below the average price line;
Before midday, the decline accelerated, with the lowest touching 169.5k yuan/ton (a drop of over 5%), then slightly rebounded, closing at 174.3k yuan/ton, a decrease of 2.84%.
As of the close, open interest decreased by approximately 12k lots compared to the previous trading day.
In the spot market, after today’s price decline, some upstream suppliers maintained high psychological price levels, and actual spot sales slightly decreased compared to the previous few trading days;
Downstream buyers became more active with the price correction, and market inquiries and actual transactions were relatively active.
Looking ahead, as new capacity for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) comes online gradually in the first half of the year, it will continue to directly drive lithium carbonate procurement;
On the supply side, since Zimbabwe fully banned lithium ore exports at the end of February, there have been no shipments of lithium concentrate to date, coupled with disturbances from license renewals at mines in Jiangxi, the tight supply and demand balance is expected to persist into the second quarter.
Additionally, today’s price correction may also be related to profit-taking after the previous rapid increase, as well as market concerns about the downstream capacity to absorb high prices, but supply constraints have not been substantially alleviated, so short-term prices are expected to remain relatively strong. (SMM)