You may have noticed lithium becoming unloved and unwanted:*
Chinese yuan per ton, from Trading Economics
And from Reuters, March 31:
China's top lithium producers agreed this week to set a floor price of 250,000 yuan ($36,380) per tonne of lithium carbonate, six people familiar with the matter said, in an effort to slow a plunge in the price of the battery raw material.
The price was agreed on Tuesday by around 10 companies including Tianqi Lithium (002466.SZ) and Ganfeng Lithium (002460.SZ) that met on the sidelines of a conference in Nanchang in southern China, said one person who attended the meeting and five others briefed on the discussions.
The people declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the topic, which was discussed in a closed-door meeting.
Ganfeng said in a response to Reuters that no discussions on a floor price had taken place.
"Ganfeng always insists that product prices should be determined by the market, and will never take the initiative to control prices to influence the market," a company representative said in an email.
It added that no company in the industry has such capabilities....
....MUCH MORE
So, I guess we shall see. If interested, that Trading Economics link has more on the market over the last year.
*Related (mommy, why is that man standing on his desk naked and yelling about lithium?):
- "Electric vehicle battery makers test a future without lithium"
- "Lithium prices in China halve in just four months"
- "Iran discovers world’s second largest lithium reserve"
- U.S. Geological Survey: Lithium 2023
- "Lithium price slide deepens as China battery giant bets on cheaper inputs"
- "Lithium Stocks Crashed. Now We Know Why. What It Means for Tesla, EV Battery Stocks"
- "Lithium's Plunge Is Pitting Cathie Wood Against Sector Veterans" (ALB)
- "Lithium Bonanza: China Battles West for Raw Material of the Future"
- "Vulcan Energy to mine 60% more German lithium than planned"
- "OPEC Cartel Has Nothing on China’s Clean-Energy Monopoly"
- "Risk and Reward in South America’s Lithium Triangle"
- Batteries: "Red-hot lithium price rally cools as China’s BYD flags surplus"
