Our global coverage and specialist knowledge ensures the most market-reflective prices for today’s lithium market.

2. 2

3. Battery demand has changed the lithium market forever
3
Industry
growth
+529%
EV (LCE)
+600%
ESS (LCE) CE Batteries Traditional
20252016
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
Growth in electric storage systems and electric vehicles will lead to a significant increase in demand for lithium and other
battery raw materials by 2025.
As the market continues to change, the need for price transparency and risk management tools has never been greater.

4. Our lithium prices
Our global coverage and specialist knowledge
ensures the most market-reflective prices for
today’s lithium market

5. Global & complete lithium coverage
5
Spodumene Prices
Lithium Hydroxide Spot Prices
Lithium Carbonate Spot Prices
Lithium Hydroxide Contract Prices
Lithium Carbonate Contract Prices
Lithium prices
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
Fastmarkets provides holistic coverage of the lithium market, capturing
raw materials, different compounds and different contract terms globally

6. Key lithium prices for today’s market
2018 | Fastmarkets | Name of Presentation
Lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade
$ per kg cif China, Japan & South Korea
Lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade
yuan per tonne, ex-works China
Lithium hydroxide monohydrate min 56.5%
LiOH.H2O battery grade
$ per kg cif China, Japan & South Korea
Lithium hydroxide monohydrate min 56.5%
LiOH.H2O battery grade
yuan per tonne, ex-works China
The highest liquidity is seen in the battery hubs of China, Korea and Japan.
Four prices have been identified as being central to this market.

7. Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
Price specifications
Lithium carbonate min 99.5%
Li2CO3 battery grade
Lithium carbonate min 99.5%
Li2CO3 battery grade
Lithium hydroxide monohydrate
min 56.5% LiOH.H2O battery
grade
Lithium hydroxide monohydrate
min 56.5% LiOH.H2O battery
grade
Price
$ per kg cif China, Japan & South
Korea
yuan per tonne, ex works China
$ per kg cif China, Japan & South
Korea
yuan per tonne, ex works China
Delivery Port
Main Chinese Japanese & South
Korean ports (other ports
normalised)
China
Main Chinese Japanese & South
Korean ports (other ports
normalised)
China
Basis Cost, insurance & freight Ex-works, VAT included Cost, insurance & freight Ex-works, VAT included
Type Assessment Assessment Assessment Assessment
Min Lot Size 5 tonnes 5 tonnes 5 tonnes 5 tonnes
Quality
Min 99.5% Li2CO3 (delivery of Min
99.2% Li2CO3 also accepted,
qualified for use in battery
applications)
Min 99.5% Li2CO3 (delivery of
Min 99.2% Li2CO3 also accepted,
qualified for use in battery
applications)
Min 56.5% LiOH.H2O (qualified for
use in battery applications)
Min 56.5% LiOH.H2O (qualified for
use in battery applications)
Form Powder Powder Powder Powder
Published Weekly, Thursday by 4pm London
Weekly, Thursday by 4pm
London
Weekly, Thursday by 4pm London Weekly, Thursday by 4pm London

8. Establishing a lithium benchmark
Despite the China ex-works battery
grade carbonate price having the most
liquidity, we expect a seaborne delivered
price to China, Japan and South Korea to
emerge as the benchmark

9. China leads the way
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
Jun'15
Sep'15
Dec'15
Mar'16
Jun'16
Sep'16
Dec'16
Mar'17
Jun'17
Sep'17
Dec'17
Mar'18
Jun'18
Sep'18
Dec'18
$/kg
China ex-works, $/kg
Biannual contracts, US/Europe, $/kg
Large contracts, packed in bags, CIF Asia, $/kg
• Despite the majority of
business still being
concluded on a long-term
basis, Chinese spot prices
have emerged as leading
other global lithium prices
• Fastmarkets therefore
believes an Asia-centric
price will evolve as a
global proxy for the lithium
market
• There are two forerunners
for this position – battery
grade lithium carbonate
and lithium hydroxide

10. Lithium liquidity: Lithium carbonate
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
180000
200000
Oct'17
Jan'18
Apr'18
Aug'18
Nov'18
Feb'19
Jun'19
Lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade, spot prices range, ex-works domestic China,
yuan/tonne
Non-transaction Price points deals price Price Published
• Chinese spot prices
have emerged as
leading other global
lithium prices
• Despite the Chinese
domestic ex-works
price having the most
spot liquidity,
Fastmarkets expects a
delivered seaborne
price will evolve to
become the benchmark

11. Lithium Liquidity – Battery Grade Carbonate
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
• Despite lower liquidity than
the domestic China price,
lithium carbonate (cif China,
Japan Korea) is a prime
contender to emerge as the
proxy benchmark
• Lithium carbonate currently
remains a more liquid spot
market than hydroxide, but
this is expected to change
in the future as the chemical
composition of batteries
evolves
0
5
10
15
20
25
Oct'17
Dec'17
Feb'18
Apr'18
Jun'18
Aug'18
Oct'18
Dec'18
Feb'19
Apr'19
Lithium carbonate min 99.5% Li2CO3 battery grade, spot prices CIF China, Japan & Korea, $/kg
Non-transaction price points deals price Price Published

12. Lithium Liquidity - Hydroxide
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
• As battery compositions evolve
we expect to see increased
lithium hydroxide consumption
and this could also be a key
benchmark for the lithium sector
10
12
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
Oct'17
Dec'17
Feb'18
Apr'18
Jun'18
Aug'18
Oct'18
Dec'18
Feb'19
Apr'19
Lithium hydroxide monohydrate min 56.5% LiOH2O battery grade, spot prices CIF China, Japan & Korea,
$/kg
Non-transaction Price points deals price Price Published

13. How we price lithium

14. Price assessment process
Robust Transparent
Replicable
Transaction
based
Auditable
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
Fastmarkets utilizes a standard methodology that has been successfully applied to various other battery raw materials markets,
supporting the development of industry benchmarks such as our cobalt standard grade price

15. Robust methodologies, auditable pricing processes
Fastmarkets has no financial interest in the level or direction of its indices and
assessments
• All Fastmarkets employees are required to adhere to a code of conduct and strict pricing
guidelines.
• Full details of data inputs and calculations are stored in Fastmarkets’ electronic Markets
Information Database and may be accessed for internal review and auditing purposes.
Fastmarkets aligns its pricing operations to the IOSCO principles for price reporting
agencies
• International Organization of Securities Commissions
• Principles cover governance and monitoring; quality, integrity and transparency of methodologies;
and accountability, including document pricing procedures and auditable processes.
• In September 2018, Fastmarkets successfully completed an external assurance review for some
of its benchmark prices carried out by PwC.
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials

16. Trade data:
How it skews the picture
16
90
100
110
120
130
Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18
Index
Lithium price discovery vs Chinese trade statistics
Indexed MB Lithium Carbonate Battery & Technical and Industrial Grades Price
Indexed Chinese Customs Price as when released date
7 week lag
9 week lag
10 week lag
• The market is increasingly
looking to index linked pricing
mechanisms
• Prices using trade statistics
derive a price from customs
data
• This includes some spot
business but also material
delivered under fixed price
contracts
• Trade data does not
distinguish between lithium
compounds
• Spot prices better reflect the
fundamentals of the day and
do not lag the market
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials

17. Risk management

18. Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
Market evolution
Ferrous Scrap
Alumina
Reference Pricing Benchmarks Exchange Contracts
Oil & Gas
Market maturity
Lithium
Cobalt Iron Ore
65%
Steel
Manganese Ore
Iron Ore 62%
Lithium
Bauxite
Met Coal
Copper
Concentrates
Fastmarkets is working in conjunction with the physical market as pricing
evolves to provide tools that facilitate physical market trading

19. Risk management benefits
Fastmarkets | Battery raw materials
• Accurate budgeting for raw material requirement
costs
• Mitigates severe price volatility
• Enables inventory and trade financing
• Increased ability to commit to future sales prices
• The entire supply chain benefits from a transparent
and accurate pricing mechanism
• Enables long-term strategic decisions to be made
around procurement
• Access to lower financing costs – owing to banks
viewing this as a lower risk
-8%
-6%
-4%
-2%
0%
2%
4%
6%
Dec'17 Feb'18 Apr'18 Jun'18 Aug'18 Oct'18 Dec'18 Feb'19
Lithium Carbonate Spot Market (ex-works China)
% Change

20. Charlotte Radford, minors, ores and alloys editor, Europe
+44 20 7827 6463 / charlotte.radford@fastmarkets.com
Jon Mulcahy, price development manager
+44 20 7827 6480 / jon.mulcahy@fastmarkets.com
Will Adams, head of battery raw materials research
+44 1886 833617 / william.adams@fastmarkets.com
For more details on lithium or our battery raw materials coverage
please contact: