Western Lithium has a nice level of Support at .24 to .27 and Low resistance at .31 .46 so looks ready to post some new Highs. Lithium Market is setting up for gains also LIT ETF looks good for a safe placement in the Lithium playing field.
Driven by a surge in sales volume of new energy vehicles in China, the upstream material- lithium carbonate was in short supply in the fourth quarter of 2015 with soaring prices. Global lithium carbonate output increased by 12.3% year on year to 202,800 tons in 2015 and is expected to arrive at 244,200 tons in 2016, 288,900 tons in 2017, and 341,000 tons in 2018, a rise of 20.4%, 18.3%, and 18.4% from a year ago, respectively.
The booming sales of new energy vehicles worldwide will boost lithium carbonate consumption significantly. According to estimates, every 100,000 new energy vehicles (electric bus (40%), electric sedan (20%), hybrid bus (25%), and hybrid sedan (15%)) will create a demand of 5,000 tons to 8,000 tons of battery-grade lithium carbonate, about a rise of 5%-8% in global demand for battery-grade lithium carbonate.
The price of lithium carbonate in China has been going straight up since Oct 2015 with that of industrial-grade and battery-grade lithium carbonate rising substantially (to RMB120,000/t and RMB150,000/t in Jan 2016, respectively, when battery-grade lithium hydroxide was quoted at RMB140,000/t, compared with the bottom price of lithium carbonate standing at RMB50,000/t). It is expected that global demand for lithium carbonate will outpace supply during 2016-2017, leading to a continued price rise during this period. As new lithium carbonate capacities are gradually released after 2017, the price will tend to stabilize.
