In June 2026, China's total spodumene imports amounted to 768,400 tonnes, up 12.9% month-on-month. Of this total, imports of spodumene raw ore from South Africa were 116,000 tonnes, down 2.4% MoM. Lithium concentrate imports from Australia reached 371,000 tonnes, up 12.3% MoM and 45.2% YoY. Imports from Zimbabwe totaled 42,000 tonnes, down 31.8% MoM. And imports from Nigeria amounted to 105,000 tonnes, up 10.4% month-on-month.
From January to June 2026, China's lithium spodumene imports amounted to 4.434 million tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 26.9%. Of this, 1.956 million tonnes were imported from Australia (up 8.3% year-on-year), 783,000 tonnes from South Africa, 473,000 tonnes from Zimbabwe, 606,000 tonnes from Nigeria, and 304,000 tonnes from Mali.
Edited by Cassie Li, lixiangying@mysteel.com
