Lithium Carbonate, which is a critical ingredient in lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, surged to 90,000 yuan per tonne for the first time since August of 2018 after government incentives boosted demand for the metal while supplies remain tight. European governments offer subsidies to electric-car buyers and sales of alternatively powered cars account now for a third of new passenger cars. China has invested at least $60 billion to support the EV industry and it’s pushing an ambitious plan to transition to all-electric or hybrid cars by 2035 and in the US, President Biden pledged to build half a million of charging stations. The supply-and-demand balance for lithium fell into deficit in 2020 and it is expected to continue in 2021 due to lack of investment in mines after prices declined following the boom until 2018.
Lithium reached an all time high of 171000 yuan per metric tonne in October of 2017, according to spot prices for lithium carbonate traded in China. Lithium - data, forecasts, historical chart - was last updated on April of 2021.
Lithium is expected to trade at 88497.00 points by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate it to trade at 84141.00 in 12 months time.