Shares related to lithium battery concepts experienced a collective decline. At the time of writing, Ganfeng Lithium Group (01772) fell by 5.49% to HK$69.75. LOPAL TECH (02465) dropped 5.18% to HK$15.37. Tianqi Lithium Corporation (09696) declined 4.42% to HK$51.9. CATL (03750) was down 3.56% to HK$650.5.

The downward pressure followed news that Australian miner Mineral Resources (MinRes) announced the restart of operations at its wholly-owned Bald Hill lithium mine, citing a significant and sustained recovery in lithium prices. Site operations are set to ramp up gradually from late May, with crushing and mining activities commencing in June. The first production of spodumene concentrate is scheduled to begin in July. The initial shipment of spodumene concentrate is expected to depart from the Port of Esperance in the first quarter of the 2027 fiscal year, reaching full production capacity in the second quarter.

Huaxi Securities noted that market focus should be on whether downstream acceptance for prices above 200,000 yuan per tonne can expand further, and on the genuine reaction of energy storage end-users to the prevailing lithium prices. The market is currently in a critical verification period for the transmission of price signals downstream. A true assessment of downstream acceptance of current high prices can only be made when spot and futures prices effectively translate into the actual procurement processes of battery cell manufacturers and system integrators. It is anticipated that lithium prices will remain high with fluctuations in the near term. The price trajectory of lithium ore is expected to follow that of lithium carbonate in the short term.