On April 23, the spot price of lithium carbonate fluctuated and rose.

Today, the spot price of battery-grade lithium carbonate in SMM moved in a volatile upward trend compared with the previous working day. As for the futures market, the lithium carbonate 2609 contract opened higher at 175.7k yuan/ton today, surged to 178.9k yuan/ton in the morning, and then fell back amid fluctuations. At midday, it once dipped to 172.1k yuan/ton, the intraday low. In the afternoon, it stabilized and rebounded; into the close, it quickly rallied to finish at 178k yuan/ton, up 2.16%. By the close, open interest increased by 10,000 lots compared with the previous day.

This week, lithium carbonate output increased slightly, mainly driven by incremental production resulting from ongoing ramp-up at salt lakes. In the spot market, upstream players still have willingness to sell at high prices, but downstream material manufacturers show weaker purchasing sentiment, with purchases still mainly based on just-needed demand. Market inquiries and actual transactions were relatively subdued today. In the early session today, affected by Middle East geopolitical fluctuations, risk-averse sentiment in the market gradually intensified; continuous reduction in open interest weighed on prices. However, into the close, open interest increased noticeably, mainly driven by opening new long positions, indicating that some funds still hold expectations for the supply-side constraint logic. In the short term, prices may continue to trade in a relatively bullish range-bound pattern between 170k and 180k yuan/ton.

(Shanghai Metals Market)