Price of Lithium per Ton and Copper: Chart and Drivers

Price of lithium per ton: which quote to use

There is no single price of lithium per ton. On 12 October 2026 the most active lithium carbonate futures contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) ended daytime trade at 104,740 yuan per tonne, which Reuters converted at 6.693 yuan to the dollar, or about US$15,650 (Reuters via Mining.com, 12 October 2026). Three days later Trading Economics showed 104,400 yuan per tonne for its lithium benchmark, 21% lower than a month earlier but 43% higher than a year earlier.

Those numbers are for battery-grade lithium carbonate in China. Other quotes for the same week, for hydroxide, for spodumene rock or for US contracts, can differ by a factor of two or more. This page lays out the main quotes with their dates, shows how the market got here, and ends with a converter you can use with your own numbers. Copper, the other metal in the title, follows the lithium sections.

A note on units. A tonne is a metric tonne (1,000 kg). A US short ton is 2,000 lb, or 907 kg. USGS and the price reporters used here all say “ton” or “tonne” and mean the metric tonne, so the numbers below are per metric tonne.

Why lithium has several prices at once

Lithium is sold in three common forms. Lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) and lithium hydroxide are the chemicals that battery makers buy. Spodumene concentrate is crushed hard rock, usually sold as “SC6”, which means about 6% lithium oxide, and a converter turns it into a chemical. Each form has its own price, and each price depends on where and how it is delivered.

The Benchmark figures come from Investing News Network’s Q3 2026 review, which quotes Benchmark’s quarterly price review. The USGS figure is the annual average U.S. contract price for battery-grade carbonate in the USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026. The same USGS summary says spot carbonate in China (CIF: cost, insurance and freight) rose from about US$9,300 per tonne in January 2025 to about US$10,300 in November 2025, and BMI puts the 2025 average for Chinese carbonate at US$10,502. Both are close to each other and well below the 2026 level.

When you compare two prices, check four things: the chemical (carbonate, hydroxide or spodumene), the delivery point (ex works, FOB where the seller loads the ship, or CIF where the price includes freight and insurance), the currency, and whether the quote includes value-added tax. A yuan quote that includes tax is not directly comparable with a dollar quote that does not.

How lithium got from collapse to rebound

Lithium carbonate peaked in 2022 and then lost most of its value. USGS reports annual average battery-grade carbonate prices of US$11,700 per tonne in 2021, US$63,700 in 2022, US$39,000 in 2023, US$11,800 in 2024 and US$9,000 in 2025, a drop of 31% from 2024 according to the USGS text, although the table values listed here (real dollars) are 24% apart. Over the same period world mine output rose by 31% in 2025, to about 290,000 tonnes of contained lithium, and consumption rose by 20% to 263,000 tonnes (USGS, 2026). Supply grew faster than prices could support, so producers cut output and shelved projects.

Chart

Lithium carbonate annual average price

US$ per tonne, battery-grade, U.S. contract, real dollars

The turn came in 2026. S&P Global data quoted by Investing News Network show delivered-China carbonate reaching a two-year high of 201,000 yuan (US$30,032) per tonne on 12 May 2026, 71.8% above the start of the year. On GFEX, the most active contract touched 209,880 yuan on 13 May, a 33-month high. By 12 October the same contract was trading about half that level. In the third quarter, Chinese carbonate fell nearly 21% on Benchmark’s measure, from a rally driven by supply disruption to a sell-off over inventory worries.

The sell-off had a specific trigger. On 16 September a Chinese data provider sharply raised its estimate of lithium inventories, and Benchmark’s ex-works China carbonate assessment fell 7.3% that day. The provider later said the change was mainly a change in method, but traders had already sold. Benchmark’s own tracker still showed stocks of lithium chemicals being drawn down through the quarter.

What moves the lithium price now

Mine restarts. When prices recover, idle mines come back. Mineral Resources said on 19 May 2026 that it would restart its Bald Hill lithium mine in Western Australia, which had been on care and maintenance since November 2024. The mine can make about 165,000 dry tonnes of 5.1% spodumene concentrate a year, and the company linked the decision to a sustained recovery in prices. Trading Economics also notes that Core Lithium restarted its Finniss project.

Chinese supply risk. Reuters reports that market talk about a restart of CATL’s Jianxiawo mine in China has swung sentiment. The mine remains closed pending environmental approval. BMI estimates that a restart would add roughly 3% to global supply, and Benchmark puts the mine at about 4% of global supply.

Electric vehicle trade rules. The 12 October fall followed a deal between China and the European Union that could cut Chinese hybrid car exports to the bloc by more than half, according to Reuters. Analysts at Orient Securities said the deal still means slower export growth to Europe.

Energy storage. BMI expects lithium demand to grow 5.8% in 2026, down from 18.5% in 2025, as electric vehicle sales growth slows. It expects stationary battery storage to hold up better: China’s power and storage battery output rose 55% in May from a year earlier, and lithium iron phosphate cells took 83.3% of Chinese battery installations in June, according to the BMI forecast reported by Miningreporters.

Competing chemistries. The same report names sodium-ion batteries and faster battery recycling as risks to long-run lithium demand. CATL expects up to 20,000 electric vehicles to carry sodium batteries in 2026.

▶ How satellites are used to find lithium in Nigeria, a Farmonaut explainer. · 10:49

Lithium price forecasts: what BMI and Benchmark say

BMI, a unit of Fitch Solutions, raised its 2026 forecast for Chinese lithium carbonate to US$20,100 per tonne on 27 August 2026. It still expects prices to fall: US$17,200 average in the third quarter, US$16,800 in the fourth, US$16,500 for 2027 and US$14,500 for 2028, with a market surplus until 2030. BMI says that spot prices at the time (a year-to-date average of US$22,941) were above what supply and demand alone justified. Benchmark’s analyst, quoted in the Investing News Network review, said fundamentals remained strong despite the inventory scare. Forecasts from different houses disagree, and they change often, so treat them as one view each.

Satellite and field work matters less to this price than to the next one. Supply that arrives in 2027 and 2028 comes from deposits that were found, drilled and permitted earlier. Farmonaut’s guides to pegmatite, brine and clay lithium deposits and to Australian spodumene deposits explain where that supply comes from.

Spodumene and concentrate prices for project owners

If you own a hard-rock lithium licence, the price that decides your project is the concentrate price, not the carbonate headline. Benchmark’s FOB Australia spodumene price ended September 2026 at US$1,780 per tonne, 23.5% lower than three months earlier. USGS, for comparison, gives spodumene (6% lithium oxide) in Australia at about US$800 per tonne in January 2025 and about US$970 in November 2025. Our guide to lithium concentrate pricing at Bikita in Zimbabwe shows how a concentrate price turns into revenue at one mine, and the earlier note on lithium prices per ton in 2025 covers the older price cycle.

The step from concentrate to carbonate is why project owners watch both prices. A converter pays for concentrate with a share of the carbonate price, and the share depends on contract terms. A fixed-price contract and an index-linked contract react very differently when the index falls.

Lithium price converter for your own numbers

The converter below turns a yuan quote into US dollars per tonne, strips out any tax you tell it about, shows the price per tonne of lithium metal, and sizes annual revenue for a given output. Lithium carbonate is about 18.8% lithium by weight (two lithium atoms of 6.94 in a formula weight of 73.89), so one tonne of lithium metal needs about 5.3 tonnes of carbonate.

Copper price per tonne: LME and COMEX

The official London Metal Exchange (LME) cash settlement for copper on 14 October 2026 was US$14,751 per tonne, and the three-month price was US$14,635, according to Westmetall’s LME price table. That is about US$6.69 per pound. LME warehouse stocks were 228,000 tonnes. In New York, December COMEX copper traded at about US$6.67 per pound (about US$14,704 per tonne) late morning on 14 October, Mining.com reported.

The LME cash price reached a record US$14,850 per tonne on 17 August 2026, and the 2026 low was US$11,826 on 19 March, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG) press release of 24 September 2026. The ICSG put the year-to-date average at US$13,395 per tonne through 22 September, 35% above the 2025 annual average. The Cochilco bulletin reporting the August peak, as quoted by Miningreporters, gave the same record in cents per pound, 673.585.

For a longer view, USGS lists the annual average LME grade A cash price at 414.7 US cents per pound for 2024 and an estimated 440 cents for 2025, roughly US$9,100 and US$9,700 per tonne after conversion. The market has risen by about half again since then: US$14,751 is roughly 50% above the 2025 estimate of about US$9,700.

Why copper is near its record

Supply has been tight at the mines, and Chile alone produced 23% of world mined copper in 2024 (Natural Resources Canada), so strikes and accidents there move the price. ICSG preliminary data show world copper mine production down 1% in the first seven months of 2026. Chile fell 7% on lower output at El Teniente, Escondida and Spence, Indonesia’s concentrate output fell 29% because the Grasberg mine is still constrained after a mud rush in September 2025, and DR Congo concentrate production dropped 30% after a seismic event at Kamoa mine in 2025.

Chart

LME copper cash price, monthly average

US$ per tonne, 2026; October covers 1 to 14 October

Stocks tell a more mixed story. Copper in exchange warehouses (LME, COMEX and the Shanghai exchange) totalled 997,600 tonnes at the end of August 2026, the highest since June 2003, but the rise was mostly at COMEX in New York (up 238,223 tonnes since December), while Shanghai stocks fell. LME stocks were 228,000 tonnes on 14 October.

The reason is trade policy. Macquarie and BMO, quoted by Mining.com on 14 October, estimate that 1.5 to 2 million tonnes of copper now sit in the United States ahead of a possible tariff decision under Section 232, a US trade law review of copper imports. Macquarie calls the price “disconnected from the fundamentals” and says it could move higher or lower depending on the outcome. BMO argues that the metal has moved from unseen stocks to visible ones and that a price near US$14,500 to 15,000 is supported. Reporters and banks disagree, which is why copper has been volatile around its highs.

For deposit background, see our guides to copper deposits and porphyry copper deposits, and the earlier note on metal price increases and their effects.

▶ Why electric vehicles need copper and where it comes from, a Farmonaut explainer. · 6:03

Analyst forecasts for both metals compared

Banks expect lower average prices for both metals in 2027, with one exception. Macquarie lifted its 2026 copper average to US$13,573 per tonne and its 2027 average to US$12,750, with a cycle low of US$12,000 in the fourth quarter of 2027. BMO forecasts US$13,619 for 2026 and US$14,675 for 2027, because it counts the US stockpile as a restocking buffer rather than surplus. BMI forecasts US$20,100 for lithium carbonate in 2026 and US$16,500 for 2027. Spreads like these show how much of the price rests on judgement about stocks, tariffs and demand.

Chart

Forecast average prices, 2026 and 2027

US$ per tonne; BMI lithium forecast dates from 27 August 2026, before the October fall

What these prices mean for explorers and licence owners

For a mining licence owner, the price enters a project in one place: the cut-off grade. The cut-off grade is the lowest grade of ore that still pays for mining and processing. When the metal price rises, the cut-off grade falls, and rock that was waste becomes ore. That is why a higher price can bring dormant deposits back into play, as Bald Hill shows, and why a falling price can strand them.

Two cautions apply. First, a spot price is one day. Mine plans use long-run prices, and the forecasts above differ by tens of percent. Second, contained value in the ground is not revenue. Recovery, payable terms, royalties and costs sit between them. The converter above multiplies by a “price received” percentage so you can enter your own contract terms.

Farmonaut screens licence areas with satellite imagery to flag targets for field checks, which can help an owner decide where to spend drilling money before a price cycle turns. These are exploration targets, not resource estimates.

▶ Mineral exploration from space, a Farmonaut explainer. · 4:26

How to check a price quote before you rely on it

• Find the date and time. Futures prices move daily, and a figure quoted without a date is not usable.
• Find the basis. Which chemical, which delivery point, which currency, with or without tax.
• Find the source type. An exchange settlement (LME, GFEX), a price reporting agency (Benchmark), a government summary (USGS) and a forecast (BMI, Macquarie) answer different questions.
• Check the exchange rate. Reuters used 6.693 yuan per dollar on 12 October 2026. A different rate changes the dollar figure.
• Separate price from value. A project’s net revenue depends on recovery, penalties and royalties, not on the headline price.

Frequently asked questions

What is the price of lithium per ton today?

For battery-grade lithium carbonate in China, the GFEX futures contract closed at 104,740 yuan per tonne on 12 October 2026, about US$15,650, and Trading Economics showed 104,400 yuan on 15 October. Benchmark assessed ex-works China carbonate at US$19,025 on 30 September 2026. Check the date and basis before you use any of them.

Why do lithium price quotes differ so much?

Quotes differ by chemical (carbonate, hydroxide, spodumene), delivery point, currency, tax treatment and date. USGS, for example, gives a US contract average of US$9,000 per tonne for 2025, while BMI gives US$10,502 for Chinese carbonate that year.

How much lithium is in a tonne of lithium carbonate?

About 18.8% by weight, or roughly 188 kg of lithium metal per tonne of carbonate. That comes from atomic weights (Li2CO3 is 73.89 and has two lithium atoms of 6.94 each).

Is a ton the same as a tonne?

No. A metric tonne is 1,000 kg. A US short ton is 2,000 lb, or about 907 kg. USGS lithium and copper prices are per metric ton.

What is the price of spodumene concentrate per tonne?

Benchmark put 6% spodumene concentrate, FOB, meaning loaded on the ship at an Australian port, at US$1,780 per tonne at the end of September 2026, down 23.5% in the quarter (Investing News Network review of Benchmark data).

Why did lithium prices fall so far after the peak?

USGS shows the annual average carbonate price falling from US$63,700 in 2022 to US$9,000 in 2025 as world mine production rose 31% in 2025 alone, and consumption rose 20%. In 2025 alone, mine supply grew faster than demand.

Will lithium prices rise or fall from here?

Nobody knows. BMI expects Chinese carbonate to average US$16,500 in 2027 and US$14,500 in 2028, while Benchmark says demand fundamentals remain strong. Restarts of mines such as Bald Hill and a decision on Jianxiawo could shift supply. This page does not forecast prices.

What is the copper price per tonne today?

The official LME cash settlement was US$14,751 per tonne on 14 October 2026, and the three-month price was US$14,635 (Westmetall). The 2026 record is US$14,850, set on 17 August (ICSG; Westmetall’s daily LME table shows no higher settlement through 14 October).

Why is the COMEX copper price different from the LME price?

COMEX is the New York market. Traders have priced in a possible US import tariff, so metal has flowed into US warehouses, and the COMEX price has traded above the LME price. Macquarie estimates the US holds 1.5 to 2 million tonnes of copper.

Where can I find reliable metal prices?

For copper, the LME official prices (republished by Westmetall) and the Cochilco bulletin. For lithium, the GFEX settlement, price reporting agencies such as Benchmark, and USGS for annual averages. Prices from commodity news sites should carry a date and a basis.

How do metal prices affect mineral exploration?

Prices set the cut-off grade, so a higher price makes lower-grade rock worth mining and brings more targets into play. A single day’s price is a poor basis for a drilling plan, because mine plans use long-run price assumptions.