New York, Feb 16, 2026, 12:58 EST — The market has closed.
- China’s battery-grade lithium carbonate held steady at 145,000 yuan per tonne on Feb. 16.
- With U.S. markets closed for Presidents Day, lithium miners’ last uptick came on Friday.
- Traders eye post-holiday flows, while producer earnings coming up could offer fresh clues on demand.
Lithium carbonate prices in China stayed flat on Monday, battery-grade quoted at 145,000 yuan per tonne. With U.S. markets shut for a holiday, traders sat tight, looking to Tuesday for moves in lithium-related stocks.
Why does it matter right now? Lithium bounced hard off last year’s lows, but the surge is colliding with the old sticking point: expensive processing and a supply chain primed to flip back on fast once margins perk up. As a result, producers’ fresh output calls are driving equity prices more than the daily spot move.
With Presidents Day shuttering both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, investors had to look back to Friday’s closing numbers for any cues on U.S.-listed miners and battery-materials stocks.
For the fourth session in a row through Feb. 16, SunSirs’ daily readout pegged China’s benchmark price at 145,000 yuan per tonne—steady after this month’s earlier surge. The series tracks battery-grade lithium carbonate, minimum 99.5% purity.
SunSirs data showed the Feb. 13 spot price at 148,440 yuan, with the “dominant” contract — the top-traded futures — down at 145,000 yuan. That gap signals some cooling off after the latest run-up. SunSirs
Albemarle finished the day at $166.35, tacking on $7.42, a 4.7% gain. Shares in Chile’s SQM wrapped up at $70.91, up 1.1%. The Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF added 1.3%.
Albemarle grabbed attention after it decided to shut down its last running processing train at Kemerton, Western Australia. The company pointed to squeezed margins in Western hard-rock conversion. “Recent lithium price improvements alone are not enough,” chief executive Kent Masters said in a statement. albemarle.com
The move carries weight outside just this location, underscoring the price threshold required to sustain conversion capacity beyond China, where both costs and permitting play out differently. It’s also throwing a spotlight on how peers will respond as contract terms roll over for 2026 deliveries.
For China, the main thing traders are watching right now isn’t demand, it’s visibility. Mysteel warned that from Feb. 16-23, it won’t be providing news updates because of the Chinese New Year holiday—a gap that tends to drain liquidity and make bid-offer spreads in the physical market balloon.
Risks swing both directions here. Should downstream buyers ease off after holiday restocking, prices could give way in a hurry. And if mines or converters ramp up output again, that could also put a lid on the rebound that’s driven producer shares higher.
Up ahead, traders are eyeing Tuesday, Feb. 17—the first U.S. session after the break—to see if lithium stocks can hang onto their recent gains. Next on the calendar: SQM reports its Q4 and full-year 2025 earnings on Feb. 27, with the conference call lined up for March 2.
