BEIJING : Rising sales of electric vehicles as well as batteries for energy storage are driving a recovery in China's lithium market, but growing supply of the metal will still outpace improving demand, analysts said on Wednesday.
"Cell manufacturers increased their orders of cathode materials and cathode producers increased moderately the lead time of inventories of lithium carbonate," said Susan Zou, a Shanghai-based vice president at consultancy Rystad Energy. Demand from the energy storage sector, the second biggest user of the battery metal, is also growing rapidly.
Analysts see the recent rebound as short-lived. Zou expects the lithium carbonate price in China to average 300,000 yuan a ton this year.