Resumen de The ins and outs of China's lithium industry
Chinese lithium demand is ballooning on the back of steep rises in demand from the electric vehicle and battery sectors, but despite having rich domestic lithium reserves, the country continues to rely heavily on imports and is worried about where future supply will come from, Albert Li, IM Correspondent, writes. Average prices for Chinese lithium carbonate exports have surged by 186.5% from $7,423/tonne in 2013 to $21,267/tonne last year, but this overall trend masks volatility in the mineral's price, which rose 161.1% from 2015 to 2016, peaking last June, since when it has slowly adjusted downward. Chinese lithium carbonate exports to Japan Jan 2015-Feb 2017 Source: China Customs Lithium hydroxide China has traditionally been a net exporter of lithium hydroxide, with outbound shipments of 9,834 tonnes in 2016 ( see Figure 6 ). Tinaqi said higher sales volumes of lithium carbonate and hydroxide were driven mainly by sharp increases in the production of both electric vehicles and battery cathodes in China, while shortage of supply relative to growing demand helped push up prices. According to the China Nonferrous Industry Association, over 80% of these imports come from Talison alone. According to the China Nonferrous Industry Association, 70% of the lithium production in China comes from imported spodumene concentrates, 16% from domestic brine, 8% from domestic spodumene concentrates and 6% from imported brine.
