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Despite bearish headlines about oversupply fears, lithium prices are increasing in many cases, according to new Roskill analysis.
“Lithium prices have shown a mixture of trends in 2018, depending on which price set you look at,” said David Merriman, lithium supply specialist at Roskill.


“While Chinese ‘spot’ or ‘internal’ prices for lithium carbonate have fallen back dramatically, they represent only a small portion of total lithium carbonate purchases,” Mr Merriman told *.
“[Contracted carbonate prices] have been steadily increasing throughout 2018 and actually exceeded the China spot price for the first time in [the September quarter of] 2018.”
Most lithium — processed or not — is traded in long-term contracts between major producers and consumers, says Mr Merriman.
It is rare to buy and sell lithium on the open market.
Roskill expects prices to increase steadily as contracts are renegotiated between major suppliers and consumers.

Mr Merriman said Roskill expected spodumene prices to fall back in 2019, but “they will remain at sufficient prices to sustain this new production”.

“Despite expansions at existing producers and the commissioning of new market entrants, supply will struggle to keep pace with rapid demand growth — driven by electrification of vehicles and energy storage during the early 2020s.”