Lithium Wrap: Lithium Miners Fall 2.9% as Futures Fade
LIT ETF dropped to US$74.02 and Albemarle slipped to US$132.71 in Tuesday's session, even as China's spot carbonate benchmark edged higher. The post Lithium Wrap: Lithium Miners Fall 2.9% as Futures Fade appeared first on The Rio Times .
Lithium equities fell on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, despite a rise in the physical benchmark for lithium carbonate. The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF, a basket of miners and battery firms, declined 2.91% to US$74.02. Albemarle, the largest US lithium producer, slipped 0.96% to US$132.71, and Chile's SQM dropped 0.84% to US$74.47.
The main driver was China's lithium carbonate futures market, which saw the most-traded contract rise to 157,800 CNY per tonne before falling to 155,400 CNY, a 0.62% increase. This divergence suggests investors are pricing in longer-term supply risks rather than today's modest chemical price gains. The lithium complex split in two directions, with the physical benchmark rising while the main equity proxies fell.
The global lithium carbonate CFD benchmark also rose 0.33% to 153,500 CNY per tonne, indicating slightly different directions between futures and spot indicators. Strong year-on-year demand for EV batteries and forecasts of lithium reaching US$28,000 per tonne if supply tightens further are still influential, but investors are waiting to see if brine operations can meet the rising battery demand from China and other EV markets.
Written by urgent.news from The Rio Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
