How does the market for lithium hydroxide change?

Since October 2017, battery -grade lithium carbonate has slipped from a high point of 168,000 Yuan/ton. The market's expectation of oversupply of lithium carbonate market gradually ferments. The iron lithium market was severely damaged by the Watmar event, and the price of industrial lithium carbonate in salt lake dropped below 100,000 Yuan/ton and other negative events. The price of lithium carbonate declined all the way. On July 6, SMM quoted the price of battery grade lithium carbonate at 113,000 Yuan/ton to 118,000 Yuan/ton, a new low of 28 months.

The price of lithium carbonate has been falling, and lithium hydroxide has gone out of its independent market. SMM July 6 battery-grade lithium hydroxide offer 13.5-15 million / ton, lithium hydroxide's high and low spreads further widened. The low price of SMM lithium hydroxide reflects the price of ordinary battery-grade lithium hydroxide. It is affected by the decline in battery-grade lithium carbonate, and the market price has been lowered. The strong high price reflects a special type of hydrogen on the market. The price of lithium oxide is: micronized lithium hydroxide.

Lithium hydroxide monohydrate is a white deliquescent single crystal powder. When the temperature is higher than 100 degrees Celsius, the crystal water is lost to become anhydrous lithium hydroxide, and the melting point is 471 degrees Celsius under anhydrous conditions. Lithium hydroxide is highly alkaline and corrosive. It belongs to eight types of dangerous goods. Its process control requirements and finished product transportation conditions are more demanding than lithium carbonate. The micro-powder grade lithium hydroxide requires a crushing process for ordinary lithium hydroxide. The strong alkalinity and corrosivity make this process not easy to achieve, and some contradictory qualities need to be traded. For example, the finer the particle size is, the larger the specific surface area. The easier it is to absorb moisture and carbonize, and the larger the specific surface area, the greater the stress between molecules, and the easier it is to agglomerate. In addition to the particle size requirements, high nickel ternary requirements for safety performance are higher, and the requirements for magnetic materials are also stricter. To solve the above problems, at the current stage, domestic leading smelters are still actively exploring.

Then, whether the micronized lithium hydroxide can replicate the violent rise of lithium carbonate in 2017? SMM expects that the demand for micronized lithium hydroxide in China in 2018 is between 7,000 tons and 10,000 tons, accounting for about the year. The total supply of lithium is 15-%20%. Although the demand for high-nickel ternary demand is still early this year, most of the cathode material manufacturers have the demand for safe and stable supply chain, so the demand of the downstream power battery plant will be reflected to the lithium salt in advance plant. SMM expects that the price of lithium powder in the second half of the year will remain high, and the price difference with lithium carbonate will further widen.

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