The international energy and commodities price assessment agency Argus announced a further expansion of its market quotations, releasing for the first time an assessment of the landed prices of more mainstream-grade (5-5.5%) lithium spodumene concentrate from China to China and the off-shore prices from Australia to Australia.
Lithium spodumene is a key raw material for the production of lithium compounds, which are the core materials for electric vehicle batteries. Changes in the price of lithium compounds can have an impact on the entire battery supply chain. The new weekly assessment prices will complement the existing 6% grade lithium spodumene prices of Argus, providing a more comprehensive price reference for the market.
As a core raw material for electric vehicle batteries and energy storage batteries, lithium spodumene is a strategic cornerstone of the renewable energy industry. Currently, Australia is the world's largest supplier of lithium spodumene, while China is the largest processing and consuming country, with its lithium compound refining processing capacity accounting for approximately 70% of the global total.
Due to years of intense mining, the average grade of lithium spodumene has continued to decline. In this context, price assessments based solely on higher-grade products have been unable to fully reflect the actual demand distribution in the market.
Adrian Binks, the chairman and CEO of Argus, said: "We discussed with the industry to develop this new price, to reflect the evolution of the mining and trading patterns. Over the past few years, Argus has continuously expanded the price quotations for battery materials, aiming to enhance market transparency in the electric vehicle industry and help it make more informed and efficient investment decisions."
