The lithium industry needs $42 billion of investment if it is to meet 2030 demand, according to analysis by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. This works out at approximately $7 billion a year between now and 2028 if the industry is to meet lithium demand by the end of the decade.
Benchmark forecasts lithium demand in 2030 will reach 2.4 million tonnes LCE (lithium carbonate equivalent)—almost 1.8 million tonnes more than the 600,000 tonnes of lithium Benchmark forecasts will be produced in 2022.
Benchmark Lithium Price Index as of 22 April 2022
China’s domestic lithium market has become more liquid in recent months, with more frequent transactions and higher traded volumes on the spot market, relative to other global regions, prompting greater price volatility in shorter time spans.
As such, Benchmark will now move from bi-monthly to weekly publication of its Chinese lithium prices. Benchmark now publishes weekly prices for:
Lithium Carbonate, EXW China, ≥99.5% Li2O3 (Battery grade)
Lithium Carbonate, EXW China, ≥99.0% Li2O3 (Technical grade)
Lithium Hydroxide, EXW China, ≥56.5% LiOH
By 2030, there will also be a deficit of 230,000 tonnes of refined nickel, as assessed by Benchmark’s Nickel Forecast. In 2021, a third of global refined nickel supply came from Indonesia and this is forecast to 50% in 2025. However, the carbon footprint of Indonesian nickel can be much higher than other supply chain routes according to Bruna Grossl, a life Cycle assessment (LCA) practitioner at Benchmark.
Car companies are finally catching on to the great raw material disconnect.
