China’s 2024 lithium carbonate output rises 45%, ministry says

China’s battery-grade lithium carbonate production increased 45% from 2023 to 670,000 metric tons last year, according to a release from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Thursday.

The most traded lithium carbonate contract on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange closed at 76,140 yuan ($10,470.87) per ton on Thursday, up 0.1% from Wednesday.

A plunge in the price of lithium, the electric vehicle battery metal, from its peak in November 2022 at nearly 600,000 yuan per ton, has forced companies to mothball mines across the world.

But market participants say those closures mean buoyant demand should outpace supply this year as China intensifies policy support to boost sales in the world’s largest EV market.

China doubled EV subsidies in July 2024 and more than 5 million cars sold as of mid-December had benefited from the incentives.

The global lithium supply glut is predicted to shrink by half to around 80,000 tons equivalent of lithium carbonate (LCE) in 2025 from nearly 150,000 last year, according to Antaike, China’s state-owned commodity data provider.

China’s production of battery-grade lithium hydroxide rose to 360,000 tons in 2024, a 26% increase year-on-year, according to MIIT.

($1 = 7.2716 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(By Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Read More: Lithium prices to stabilize in 2025 as mine closures, China EV sales ease glut, analysts say