Fastmarkets analyst William Adams and reporter Sofia Okun size up the lithium market ahead of LME Week, which begins Monday October 11.
This year has been fast and furious for the lithium market, with prices rising 135-265%, depending on location and type of lithium salt. Spodumene prices are up by 470% since the start of the year. This follows the depressed state that the market was in last year.The origin of the slump in prices between 2019 and 2020 was the start-up of a lot of new supply in a short space of time in 2018. That ramped up in 2019 and sent the market into a supply surplus. Prices fell to unsustainable lows in 2020, but as they say, "the answer to low prices is low prices." The low prices in 2020 led to another production cut and the closure of Altura. And that, combined with a strong...