MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Strong demand from the electric-vehicle sector alongside supply cuts should help Australian lithium miners recover toward the middle of next year, earlier than expected, industry executives said on Wednesday.
Australian producers of spodumene, a type of concentrated lithium ore that accounts for about half of global lithium supply, have suffered this year after a flood of production sent prices tumbling by more than 20%. Recently, miners said they do not expect a recovery until the end of this year or early 2020.
BMI Managing Director Simon Moores suggested that the wait could be longer, but still earlier than market consensus of 2021. “There are two factors. One is the build-up of the demand picture downstream.
The amount of battery plants that are going up, the amount of contracts that we see being signed long-term. The demand picture is getting even stronger,” he said.
“On the supply side, you have also started to see a response,” Moores added, speaking at an industry event in Melbourne. Since November last year, BMI has revised up by 50% its estimates for the global build-out of lithium ion battery capacity by 2028.
For the rest of this article: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-australia-mining-batteries/australian-lithium-recovery-seen-by-mid-2020-as-ev-production-revs-up-idUSKBN1W304G