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Mr Lithium: China is creating a ‘false narrative’ to talk down lithium prices as industry struggles to build mines on time

Lithium has fallen over 50% in 2023, so far, with one of the world’s foremost experts in the key battery metal saying major consumer China is creating a “false narrative” to talk prices down.

After a stunning 2022, sentiment has been damaged in 2023 as lithium prices in China retreat despite a continued expansion in EV sales.

But ‘Mr Lithium’ Joe Lowry, who saw the lithium sector grow from a US$200 million when he entered the game in 1990 to US$1b by 2015 and over US$40 billion today, believes lithium supply will continue to disappoint even as Governments and automakers in the USA and Europe throw money at the sector.

“Everybody knows they have a lithium problem and we’ve seen this year at the beginning of the year, extreme volatility in the China spot market,” he said in a keynote at Vertical Events and Tribeca Investment Partners’ inaugural Resource Connect Asia event in Singapore today.

“What’s that all about? I think you’re going see volatility in the lithium space going forward. I believe honestly, that China’s tried to create a false narrative to talk the lithium price down.

“It’s going to be interesting, but … the way I look at the numbers we’re in a shortage for the rest of this decade.

“And even though there may be mismatches between supply and demand and pricing, making it volatile, the long term lithium price is going to tend towards high and not low.”

https://stockhead.com.au/resources/mr-lithium-china-is-creating-a-false-narrative-to-talk-down-lithium-prices-as-industry-struggles-to-build-mines-on-time/