Lithium Carbonate Output of Chile, the World’s Largest Producer of Lithium Carbonate

Global and China Lithium Carbonate Industry Report, 2013 Affected by flood, the lithium carbonate output of Chile, the world’s largest producer of lithium carbonate, declined, leading to tight supply and a new round of price rise in the global lithium carbonate market in 2012. In the first half of 2013, as some enterprises released capacities and the demand from downstream industries is in an off-season, the supply tension was eased, and the price fell to some extent, but overall remained at a high level. The downstream demand for lithium carbonate is strong, and emerging industries like New Energy Vehicle with a good growth momentum will become the main force driving the growth of the lithium carbonate industry in the future. It’s expected that the global New Energy Vehicle’s demand for lithium carbonate will maintain a growth rate of more than 50% in 2013-2017, and hit 122,000 tons in 2017. Judged by the current supply and demand developments, the global lithium carbonate supply gap will be large in 2017, and the lithium carbonate price will continue the upward trend. China is the world’s second largest owner of lithium ore resources, and has the world’s third largest lithium carbonate capacity which is about 15%. China's lithium carbonate suppliers mainly include spodumene suppliers such as Tianqi Lithium Industries and salt lake suppliers like Qinghai Salt Lake Industry. China’s salt lake development is currently in an early stage, and the capacity is quite limited. Comparatively, spodumene suppliers have stronger competitiveness. Tianqi Lithium Industries is a lithium carbonate supplier with the largest capacity in China. It has the mining right of Yajiang Cuola Spodumene Mine, the capacity is 11,000 tons, and the output and sales volume of lithium products in 2012 both exceeded 11,000 tons. In September, 2013, the company’s acquisition of 65% stake in Talison, a major global spodumene mining rights owner, was approved...