A lot of Australian investors have money in the many ASX lithium shares that trade on the local bourse.

Among the most popular options are the likes of Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO), Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS).

In addition, Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO) is pushing forward with its lithium ambitions and recently revealed that it expects its Rincon lithium plant in Argentina to commence production by the end of 2024.

But unlike oil, gold, copper, and iron ore prices, finding out what the lithium price is can be difficult for investors.

And given how much of impact it has on the performance of ASX lithium shares, this puts them at a disadvantage.

So, let's take a look and see what is going with the lithium price right now.

According to a note out of Goldman Sachs, there was a bit of movement in spot lithium prices in China last week.

At the end of last week, lithium carbonate was fetching a price of US$13,786 per tonne. This is down slightly from US$13,808 per tonne a week earlier.

And if you're wondering how this compares to recent times. The 2022 average lithium carbonate price was US$63,232 per tonne and the 2023 average was US$32,694 per tonne.

Moving on to lithium hydroxide. It is currently commanding US$9,616 per tonne. This is down a touch from US$9,656 per tonne the week before.

This compares to the 2022 average of US$59,190 per tonne and the 2023 average of US$32,452 per tonne.

Finally, the latest spodumene 6% price is US$1,210 per tonne, which is actually up week on week from US$1,120 per tonne.

But much like the other lithium types, this remains down materially from the 2022 average of US$4,368 per tonne and the 2023 average of US$3,712 per tonne.