Platts to update quantity, quality specifications of daily lithium spodumene assessments

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, will update the volume specification of its daily FOB Australia and CIF China lithium spodumene assessments to 5,000 mt, effective March 3.

Platts will also update the quality specification to define impurity contents.

Platts lithium spodumene 6% FOB Australia and 0.1% differential assessments currently specify a minimum volume of 1,000 mt, and the lithium spodumene 5.5% CIF China assessment specifies a minimum volume of 5,000 mt.

The quantity change will align specifications across all three assessments to reflect typical volumes of 5,000 mt.

The changes seek to reflect market feedback and Platts observation of a shift in the typical sizes of cargoes traded in the spot market.

Spot transactions of lithium spodumene were observed to have taken place in cargo sizes from 1,000 mt to 25,000 mt, with over 90% in sizes of 5,000 mt or more, data compiled by Platts showed.

The update of the quantity specification to 5,000 mt reflects how the different ways spodumene is shipped -- containerized versus bulk, and within bulk, different vessel sizes -- may give rise to differing freight rates.

Following the change, Platts will seek to normalize the various reported trades, bids and offers to the standard specification.

Market feedback has also indicated that high mica and iron oxide levels within spodumene attract penalties and therefore, could have an impact on the spot price of a cargo.

The addition of impurity contents to the quality specification will add further clarity to the assessment specification.

The daily lithium spodumene assessments will have the following specifications:

There will be no changes to other existing specifications.

A full description of Platts lithium spodumene specifications can be found here: https://www.spglobal.com/commodityinsights/en/our-methodology/methodology-specifications/metals/nonferrous-methodology.

Platts initially proposed the update on Jan. 20, in a subscriber note available at: https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/pricing-benchmarks/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/012025-platts-proposes-to-update-quantity-quality-specifications-of-daily-lithium-spodumene-assessments.

The assessments are published on pages MTL8888 and PMA8888 of Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert, Platts Metals Daily and in the Platts price database under the symbols listed above.

Please send feedback, comments and questions to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com.

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