The lithium carbonate market continued to see a tug-of-war between near-term destocking and medium-term supply ramp-up expectations. On the supply side, scheduled maintenance at some lithium converters in July, together with low lithium ore spots inventory and compressed processing fees, has lowered operating rates at marginal capacity, pointing to a contraction in supply. On the demand side, July LFP production schedules exceeded expectations, showing resilience despite the off-season. However, some producers are constrained by the pace of capacity expansion, keeping overall industry ramp-up relatively moderate.
In the spot market, downstream buyers continued to purchase for essential needs. Transaction volumes picked up recently after carbonate prices fell below Yuan 150,000/tonne.
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