Platts updates quantity, quality specifications of daily lithium spodumene assessments

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

Platts has also updated the quality specification to define impurity contents.

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

The quantity change aligns specifications across all three assessments to reflect typical volumes of 5,000 mt, reflecting 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 the different ways in which spodumene is shipped -- containerized versus bulk, and within bulk, different ship sizes -- which may give rise to differing freight rates.

Following the change, Platts seeks 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 impact the spot price of a cargo.

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

The daily lithium spodumene assessments have the following specifications:

There are no changes to other existing specifications.

A full description of Platts lithium spodumene specifications can be found here.

The proposal and communication of the update in specifications were published earlier in the subscriber notes here and here.

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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