Lithium carbonate fundamentals remain resilient; monitor marginal changes and their real-world transmission.

Ask AI · Why does the real-world backdrop drive weakness despite the double increase in lithium carbonate supply and demand?

【Lithium carbonate fundamentals remain resilient; focus on marginal changes in real-world transmission】 Caixin Media, March 24, reports that in recent times, lithium carbonate fundamentals have remained resilient, as reflected by both supply and demand increasing. However, marginal real-world drivers have weakened. Looking ahead, pay attention to how real-world transmission plays out under changes in expectations. This month, after upstream salt-plant maintenance ends, supply is gradually ramping up. Over the past few weeks, lithium carbonate production data has continued to rise week by week. In the short term, the core focus on supply still centers on the development of conflicts on the raw-material side. Demand overall maintains optimistic expectations. At the moment, the sales data for the power-terminal vehicles is somewhat weak, mainly due to seasonality and the effects of policy pullbacks. But the improvement in end-user charging volume is notable. In energy storage, leading enterprises basically maintain full production. Downstream scheduling is relatively stable overall. Under firm orders, material output is expected to stay at a relatively high level. In March, the month-over-month increase in the output of cells and materials has been raised. Structurally, lithium iron phosphate shows a large month-over-month rise, while ternary materials perform relatively weaker. For inventories, destocking continues, but the trend shows marginal weakening. Last week, social inventories across all segments decreased by 86 tons week over week, with the contraction narrowing further. Inventories at upstream smelters and downstream inventories increased somewhat, while cell manufacturers’ and traders’ inventories continue to decline. (GF Futures)