According to customs data, China's lithium carbonate imports in December were 10,876 tons, and the annual imports in 2022 amounted to 136,000 tons, with a cumulative rise by 68% year-on-year. China's lithium carbonate exports in December were 904 tons, and exports remained modest, with annual exports of 10,400 tons in 2022.
Lithium carbonate from Chile in 2022 was 121,736 tons, accounting for 89.5% of the total imports; lithium carbonate from Argentina was 12,800 tons, accounting for 9.4% of the total imports; lithium carbonate from other regions was less than 1.2% of the total imports.
Chilean lithium carbonate producers are ALB (Albemarle) and SQM (Sociedad Química y Minera), mainly with salt lake brine as raw material. The annual capacity of lithium carbonate at the end of 2022 is 95,000 tons and 180,000 tons, respectively.
From the customs data, the largest amount of lithium carbonate imported into Shanghai in 2022 was 84,259 tons, accounting for 61.9% of the total imports, followed by provinces with more than 10,000 tons were Guangdong, Fujian, and provinces with more than 1,000 tons were Jiangsu, Sichuan, Henan, Zhejiang.
In terms of import trade mode, in 2022, general trade of lithium carbonate has the largest volume of 117,300 tons, accounting for 86.2% of the total imports. Processing of imported materials has 4,300 tons, accounting for 3% of the total imports. Others are mainly for logistics goods in special customs supervision areas, import and export goods in bonded supervision places, and they have the import volume of 14,400 tons, accounting for 10.6% of the total imports.
Domestic lithium carbonate production in December is 34,800 tons. In 2022, the annual production is 348,600 tons. The annual net imports of lithium carbonate is 125,700 tons. lithium carbonate apparent consumption is 474,300 tons. And lithium carbonate import dependence is 26.2%.
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