Lithium carbonate prices were at the CNY 105,000 per tonne in May, trading in a tight range since reaching the two-and-a-half-year low in February amid the ongoing surplus of raw material for electric vehicle battery manufacturers. The electric vehicle industry still deals with the fallout of gluts of batteries across the supply chain, but Chinese lithium producers continued to expand capacity and hunt for new reserves, increasing expectations of surpluses. Additionally, hopes that the market will eventually balance out drove Chile set plans to double output for the world’s second-largest producer over the next decade. Such developments follow cuts in battery prices as EV producers continued to take advantage of high inventories of input materials and finished product from extensive subsidies from Beijing in 2022. Additionally, sweeping tariffs from the US and trade barriers from the EU raised uncertainty over China’s ability to offset slowing EV demand with higher exports.
Lithium increased 9,000 CNY/T or 9.33% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Historically, Lithium reached an all time high of 5750000.00 in December of 2022. Lithium - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on May 20 of 2024.
Lithium increased 9,000 CNY/T or 9.33% since the beginning of 2024, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity. Lithium is expected to trade at 103337.25 CNY/T by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 97112.75 in 12 months time.