Rising demand for lithium is stoking prices for the electric vehicle battery metal, fueling long-delayed expansions that still may not produce adequate supplies that automakers need to meet aggressive production plans.
"The next few years are going to be critical in terms of whether there's enough available lithium supply, and that's why you're starting to see commodity prices start to ramp," said Chris Berry, an independent lithium industry consultant.
and SQM, post big gains in first-quarter profit and boost forecasts for the year., saddled with debt due to years of low lithium prices, signaled that recovering demand should help it swing to a profit this year. Forecasts call for demand for the white metals to surge from about 320,000 tonnes annually last year to more than 1 million tonnes annually by 2025, when many automakers plan to launch new EV fleets, according to Benchmark. Still, demand is expected to outstrip supply in 2025 by more than 200,000 tonnes, so lithium prices may need to rise to encourage producers to build more mines. That could boost the prices consumers pay for EVs. "Companies across the lithium-ion supply chain are in the best position they've been in for the last 5 years," said Pedro Palandrani of the Global X Lithium & Battery Technology ETF
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