Australian lithium miner Allkem announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire American chemical manufacturing company Livent, which will create a US $10.6 billion entity. Both parties stated that based on future estimated production capacity, this full share merger will create the world's third largest lithium producer.
Since 2020, driven by the demand in the downstream lithium battery industry, the demand for lithium salts and lithium mines has continued to rise rapidly.
In 2023, the price of lithium products is affected by various factors such as supply and demand, production costs, etc., resulting in significant price fluctuations.
But from a global perspective, the new energy vehicle industry has been improving for a long time, and the demand for upstream lithium resources in the industry chain has always been increasing.
Relevant institutions predict that global lithium demand after inventory adjustment will increase from 777000 tons of LCE in 2022 to 1613000 tons of LCE in 2025, and the global lithium demand will reach 2.9 million tons of LCE in 2032.
Previously, the mismatch between supply and demand of lithium resources led to a significant increase in prices, and companies within the industry chain have increased their investment in lithium mines.
The main planned projects in this section will focus on production and capacity release in 2023 and 2024. According to Wood McKenzie's prediction, global lithium chemical product supply will be in a rapid growth stage in the next 10 years, and it is expected that global lithium product supply will reach 2.55 million tons of LCE by 2032.
According to data, 77% of the global lithium industry market share is currently controlled by five major companies.
Among them, American Yabao accounts for 25%, Ganfeng Lithium accounts for 16%, Chile Mining and Chemical SQM accounts for 15%, Tianqi Lithium accounts for 14%, and American Live accounts for 7%.
