Commodity busts are sticky events. Even when prices fall below the cost of production, suppliers are loath to shut in their operations: the hope is always that someone else will capitulate first.
So it has been in the lithium market. The white metal, a key ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles and mobile gadgets, has lost as much as 90 per cent from its 2022 highs amid a supply glut and lower than expected growth in electric vehicles. Nearly half of global production does not cover cash cost at current prices, according to Bernstein Research. Yet few producers have been willing to reduce output as they wait for prices to strengthen.
Small wonder, then, that the lithium market was electrified on Monday by news that China’s battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has suspended production at one of its mines after a licence expired. That further extended the commodity’s bounce: it is now up 30 per cent since late June.