Platts proposes new CIF China spodumene concentrate assessment reflecting 6.0% lithium oxide pricing basis

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, proposes to publish a daily lithium spodumene concentrate CIF China assessment reflecting a 6.0% lithium oxide pricing basis, effective Sept. 1.

Platts also proposes to expand the lithium oxide content range reflected in its existing FOB Australia 0.1% differential to 5.0%-6.0%.

The proposal reflects Platts' observations of spot market activity and considers feedback from market participants indicating a practice of negotiating and concluding spot transactions for spodumene concentrate on a 6.0% pricing basis for material with lithium oxide between 5.0% and 6.0%.

CIF China SC 6.0% assessment

The proposed 6.0% assessment would reflect the typical pricing basis in the China import market and enhance existing spodumene coverage by capturing the value of larger volume cargoes shipped in bulk. The new launch would complement the Platts established 5.5% lithium spodumene CIF China assessment for smaller cargo sizes of 5,000 mt, usually shipped in containers.

The proposed assessment would reflect the following specifications:

The assessment would consider spodumene grades with 5.0%-6.0% lithium oxide content reported to Platts on a 6.0% pricing basis as standard. Information reported on an actual grade basis within the 5.0%-6.0% range would be considered for assessment purposes and normalized to 6.0% based on a linear escalation for lithium oxide.

Information reported on cargoes with volumes above 10,000 mt may be normalized to the proposed quantity specification.

Quality differential

Platts is proposing to widen the lithium content range for its FOB Australia 0.1% differential, from 5.5%-6.0% lithium oxide currently to 5.0%-6.0% from Sept. 1. The proposed update considers market feedback that the value for each 0.1% of lithium oxide is derived linearly between 5.0% and 6.0%.

The quality specification would be updated as follows:

Platts spot price assessments consider market information reported to Platts and published throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, transactions and indications, as well as any other data deemed relevant to the assessment process. Relevant information may be normalized for assessment purposes.

The new 6.0% CIF China assessment would reflect a time stamp of 4:30 pm Singapore.

The assessment would be published on Platts Metals Daily, Battery Metals Market Report, in the Platts price database and on Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert pages MTL/PMA 8888, alongside the Platts full suite of battery metals assessments.

Platts would additionally publish a monthly average of the daily price assessment on page MTL8880.

Platts invites feedback, comments and questions on this proposal to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by Aug. 20.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.