Latest Update in the China Lithium Market

SHFE nonferrous metals, except for copper and lead, rose on Friday, following upbeat economic data out of the US and China, while lingering concerns over the coronavirus pandemic tempered optimism.

Social inventories of lead ingots in China rose sharply this week, as buyers turned to secondary lead smelters on wider discounts while demand remained sluggish after some lead-acid battery producers were shut for up to three days for the Dragon Boat Festival.

Operating rates across lead-acid battery producers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei and Hebei provinces averaged 63.69% in the week ended July 3, up 0.27 percentage point from the previous week, showed an SMM survey.

Social inventories of silicon metal in China were barely changed this week, with SMM data showing that stocks across Huangpu port, Kunming city and Tianjin port stood at 46,000 mt as of Friday July 3, flat from the level seen on June 24, the last trading day before the Dragon Boat Festival.

Nickel ore inventories across all Chinese ports rose this week, increasing 85,000 wmt from last Wednesday June 24 to 8.08 million wmt as of Friday July 3, showed SMM data. This marked the third weekly increase in the past four weeks.

Operating rates across licensed smelters of secondary lead in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan and Guizhou averaged 53.4% in the week ended July 3, up 3 percentage points from the previous week, showed an SMM survey.

Operating rates across primary lead smelters in Henan, Hunan and Yunnan provinces averaged 53.3% in the week ended July 3, up 1.7 percentage points from the previous week, showed an SMM survey.

Inventories of refined nickel in the Shanghai bonded areas rose slightly this week as import profits struggled to improve.