Group 1: General Information - Report title: Carbonate Lithium Futures Daily Report [1] - Date: December 23, 2025 [2] - Researcher: Zhang Ping, Yu Feifei, Peng Jinglin [3][4] Group 2: Market Review and Operational Suggestions - Carbonate lithium futures reached a new high this year, with total positions increasing by 26,408 lots, and the 05 - 01 spread widening to 1,900. Spot electric carbon rose 1,350 to 99,000. The trade market's premium/discount to the main contract was reported at (-3,500, -1,500). Australian ore rose 50 to 1,385, lithium mica ore rose 85 to 2,920, ternary materials rose 500 - 1,000, iron - lithium rose 315 - 330, and electrolyte remained flat [9]. - The slowdown in demand at the end of the year was obvious. The weekly production of power lithium batteries, ternary, and iron - lithium all slowed down last week, and the weekly de - stocking volume slowed down for three consecutive weeks [9]. - Overall, there was an expected difference on the supply side of carbonate lithium, and demand slowed down slightly. It was expected that the de - stocking intensity of carbonate lithium would stop falling and rise, and carbonate lithium futures were prone to rise and difficult to fall [9]. Group 3: Industry News - Over 60% of global key mineral demand was met through international trade, making the global supply chain vulnerable to geopolitical tensions, export controls, and refining bottlenecks. The supply - side vulnerability was increasing as the demand for major energy - transition minerals was expected to rise sharply by 2040. Copper and nickel markets might face shortages in the mid - 2030s, and lithium supply was concentrated in a few countries, with the concentration of the refining segment increasing from about 82% in 2020 to 86% in 2024. Governments had accelerated their responses, with the number of key mineral policies issued since 2020 nearly doubling that of the previous two decades [12]. - Battery metals such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt had faced a third difficult year, struggling to digest the supply wave after the 2022 price surge. However, the electric vehicle revolution continued, and the demand for batteries and battery - forming metals was still growing rapidly. Chinese companies were leading a technological revolution to develop more powerful batteries at lower costs. Not all battery metals would succeed in the intense competition. In the first 11 months of 2025, global electric vehicle sales increased by 21% year - on - year to 18.5 million. The Chinese electric vehicle market was mainly dominated by lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, which were safer, cheaper, and had a narrowing performance gap compared to NCM batteries. In 2024, LFP batteries accounted for 48% of global electric vehicle batteries, and Macquarie Bank expected this proportion to rise to 65% by 2029 [13].