China: Spodumene shortages. Production cuts. Prices tighter.

Information from:http://www.asianmetal.com/news/data/1272474/Lithium market summary Dec 21-25

Chinese lithium carbonate 99.5%min price trend from
2015-12-11 to 2015-12-25（RMB/mt）
Lithium carbonate 99.5%min remained tight in Chinese
spot market and major producers have stopped offering
without any inventories. The mainstream price of lithium
carbonate 99.5%min kept at between RMB125,000/t
(USD19,290/t) and RMB130,000/t (USD20,062/t) this
week, but the price has been pushed up to
RMB140,000-150,000/t (USD21,605-23,148/t) in the spot
market. Some traders even raised their offers to
RMB160,000/t (USD24,691/t) with amount less than 5t
usually.
Lithium carbonate 99%min price kept steady at around
RMB100,000/t (USD15,432/t) this week. Most producers
have stopped offering, but further purified it to lithium
carbonate 99.5%min. As the inventories continued to
decrease in Qinghai during the seasonal shut-down,
lithium carbonate 99%min will keep tight and the price is
likely to keep the upward tendency.
Chinese lithium hydroxide monohydrate 56.5%min Na
0.008%max price trend from 2015-12-11 to 2015-12-25

Prices of lithium hydroxide Na 0.002%max and Na
0.008%max rose to RMB120,000/t (USD18,519/t) and
RMB100,000/t (USD15,432/t) respectively this week, following the markup of lithium carbonate. Two of three major lithium hydroxide producers in China cut their output by more than 50% due to the shortage of spodumene. The other one has very regular clients with deals by
long-termed contracts. The supply of lithium hydroxide will become tighter in the spot market.

Market outlook
Lithium carbonate 99.5%min Trend↑ Chance 80% Range
+10,000

Major producers kept their lithium carbonate 99.5%min
price at RMB125,000-130,000/t (USD19,290-20,062/t), but
traders raised the price to RMB135,000-140,000/t
(USD20,833-21,605/t) in the spot market this week. As
one of the major producers in China will start equipment
maintenance for 20 days in next January, lithium
carbonate 99.5%min supply will become tighter next
month. It’s estimated that lithium carbonate 99.5%min
price will increase by RMB10,000/t (USD1,543/t) at least in
the coming two weeks