According to Mysteel's tracking, Lithium refineries have been taking delivery quickly, keeping port inventories on a steady downward trend. Lithium ore prices moved lower in line with lithium carbonate last week. As futures prices fell, some refineries accelerated the closing of back-pricing orders, while others, having already settled a large volume of back-priced contracts during the price pullback in the previous week, remained cautious.
Large producers have begun locking in ore supply for the third quarter, further tightening spot availability, though inquiries for Q3 cargoes have slowed compared with Q2. Lithium ore shipments from Zimbabwe have now started. Going forward, attention will be paid to whether the arrival of Zimbabwean ore eases the current tightness in lithium ore availability.
