“EV production and sales have held steady in recent months,” according to Rystad Energy, a research firm, which added there are concerns over whether China’s power crisis could return this winter when demand for heating rises. “This could lead to new power shortages and hit lithium operations,” it wrote, expecting prices to stay firm around this level through to the end of the year.
China held a meeting to review developments on Thursday and asked the top companies to help stabilize prices, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Producers should not collude on pricing and not quote prices that deviate a lot from costs, it said. The government will take steps to encourage exploration, stabilize imports and promote recycling, it added.
On Thursday, Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, the world’s No. 2 lithium producer, predicted a “very tight market” in the years ahead. SQM sees “slightly higher” prices this quarter from the previous three months and expects prices to stay at similar levels in the fourth quarter, according to a presentation to investors in New York.
Battery-makers and the auto industry have been rushing to lock in reliable and stable supplies of lithium. Still, the raw-material price hikes are likely to stoke inflation concerns and add cost pressures to the automotive supply chain.
A battery-making unit of China’s top producer, Ganfeng Lithium Co., told customers last week that prices for new orders would be reassessed amid a substantial hike in power-cell costs. The company supplies small polymer lithium batteries for smart wearable products and Bluetooth headset batteries for companies including Xiaomi Corp.
