In China, the market average price of battery-grade lithium carbonate recovered a bit towards the end of April, Kallanish learns. 

According to data from 100ppi.com, the price reached CNY 200,000 (28,893.19)/tonne on 28 April, an increase of about 3.09% during the week. 

And yet, the overall trend throughout April is still a decline. In April, the price dropped by about 10.95% from CNY 224,600/t. 

The main reason might be the recent production cut of some upstream companies and the confirmation of production resumption from some battery material companies, such as Eve Energy. 

Lin Boqiang, dean of the China Institute for Studies in Energy Policy of Xiamen University told a reporter from Securities Daily: "After a long period of unilateral decline, the price of lithium carbonate has stopped falling for several consecutive days recently, which shows that the market has shown signs of stabilisation, but it will still take time to digest the inventory, and it may still take time to confirm the recovery as well."

According to data from China Customs, in the first quarter of 2023, China imported a total of 38,970.7 t of lithium carbonate, an on-year increase of 41.7%.

In terms of import unit price, in Q1 2023, the average import price of lithium carbonate in China was CNY 464,000/t, an on-year increase of 319.1%. The average import price in January was CNY 428,000/t, an on-year increase of 393.0%; that of February was CNY 541,000/t, an on-year increase of 398.5%; that of March was CNY 424,000/t, an on-year increase of 209.4%. 

The export of new energy vehicles also stayed strong. In Q1 2023, China's NEV export reached $9.55 billion, about 44.7% of the total vehicle export during this period, according to data from China's Ministry of Commerce.