Lithium stocks rally as CATL mine halt raises prospects of tighter supply
During morning trade, Albemarle Corp (ALB.N), opens new tab jumped 10.2%, while Chile's Sociedad Quimica y Minera (SQMA.SN), opens new tab, rose 9.2% and Lithium Americas (LAC.TO), opens new tab, gained 2.4%.
Smaller companies, Standard Lithium (SLI.V), opens new tab, , Piedmont Lithium (PLL.O), opens new tab and Sigma Lithium (SGML.V), opens new tab, advanced between 6.2% and 19.6%. Chinese and Australian miners also rallied.
The lithium sector has been struggling with a glut following weaker-than-anticipated growth in demand for electric vehicles.
The most active lithium carbonate futures in Guangzhou rose the 8% daily limit after CATL said its mining license for the Yichun project in Jiangxi province expired on Aug. 9 and renewal was underway.
The site can produce more than 46,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent a year, roughly 3% of the global supply forecast for 2025, according to data from the Australian government.
Morgan Stanley analysts said the outage could erode the small 60,000-tonne surplus it expects for 2025, bringing "upside risk to lithium prices in the short term" and potentially moving the market closer to balance if other disruptions follow.
Longer-term, they expect a surplus to re-emerge without further supply discipline.
Morningstar analyst Vincent Sun said the suspension was "an indication that the industry is taking proactive steps to contain further lithium price falls observed year-to-date."
With lithium prices now below the marginal cost of production, the move could be perceived as a positive driver to limit supply growth and rebalance the market, he said, but added it was "still too early to confirm a price recovery trend for the rest of the year."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
10 minutes ago
- The Independent
China Evergrande to be delisted from Hong Kong stock exchange following debt woes
China Evergrande on Tuesday said it will be delisted from Hong Kong's stock exchange on Aug. 25, more than a year and a half after the city's court ordered the heavily indebted real estate developer to be liquidated in another setback to mainland China's property sector. Evergrande was the world's most heavily indebted real estate developer, with $300 billion owed to banks and bondholders, when the court handed down a liquidation order in January 2024. The court ruled the company had failed to provide a viable restructuring plan for its debts, which fueled fears about China's rising debt burden, and trading of its shares has been halted since the ruling. The city's listing rules stipulate the listing of companies may be cancelled if trading in their securities has remained suspended for 18 months consecutively. China Evergrande Group received a letter Aug. 8 from the city's stock exchange notifying the firm of its decision to cancel the listing as trading had not resumed by Jul. 28. The last day of the listing will be Aug. 22 and Evergrande will not apply for a review of the decision, the company said in a statement. 'All shareholders, investors and potential investors of the company should note that after the last listing date, whilst the share certificates of the shares will remain valid, the shares will not be listed on, and will not be tradeable on the Stock Exchange," the statement said. Evergrande is among scores of developers that defaulted on debts after Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the property industry in 2020. Unable to obtain financing, their vast obligations to creditors and customers became unsustainable. The crackdown also tipped the property industry into crisis, dragging down the world's second-largest economy and rattling financial systems in and outside China. Once among the nation's strongest growth engines, the industry is struggling to exit a prolonged downturn. Home prices in China have continued to fall even after the introduction of supportive measures by policymakers. The Hong Kong court system has been dealing with liquidation petitions against some Chinese property developers, including Country Garden, which is expected to have another hearing in January. Evergrande, founded in the mid-1990s by Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, had over 90% of its assets on the Chinese mainland, according to the 2024 judgement. The firm was listed in Hong Kong in 2009 as 'Evergrande Real Estate Group' and suspended its share trading on Jan. 29, 2024, closing at 0.16 Hong Kong dollars ($0.02). Hui was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes, adding to the company's woes. In 2024, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued a fine of 4.2 billion yuan (about $584 million) against the firm's subsidiary, Hengda Real Estate Group Company, over violations including falsifying financial records. Hui was fined 47 million yuan ($6.5 million) and barred from China's securities markets for life. Some other executives were also penalised Chinese authorities in September 2024 banned the accounting firm PwC for six months and fined the company more than 400 million yuan ($56.4 million) over its involvement in the audit of the collapsed property developer.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Epic Games wins partial victory in Australian court against Google and Apple
Epic Games, the company behind the popular online game Fortnite, won a partial victory in an Australian court in U.S. billionaire chief executive Tim Sweeney's claim that Google and Apple engaged in anti-competitive conduct in running their app stores. Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach on Tuesday upheld key parts of Epic's claim that the tech giants breached Australian competition laws by misusing their market power against app developers and using restrictive trade practices. Google and Apple 's dominance of the app market had the effect of substantially lessening competition and breached Australian law, Beach found. But the judge rejected some of Epic's claim including that Google and Apple engaged in unconscionable conduct as defined by Australian law. Sweeney is also challenging Google and Apple dominance in the app markets through the courts in the United States and Britain. The litigation began in August 2020 when Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store expelled Fortnite because Epic installed a direct payment feature in the extraordinarily popular game. The court ruled both companies pressured app developers including Epic through contracts and technology to sell their products through the two dominant app stores. Epic posted online that the judgment was: 'Another HUGE WIN for Epic Games!' Apple said the company 'faces fierce competition in every market where we operate.' 'We welcome the Australian court's rejection of some of Epic's claims, however, we strongly disagree with the Court's ruling on others,' Apple said in a statement. Google said it would review the judgment. Google and Apple could potentially appeal the ruling before the Federal Court full bench. 'We disagree with the court's characterisation of our billing policies and practices, as well as its findings regarding some of our historical partnerships, which were all shaped in a fiercely competitive mobile landscape on behalf of users and developers,' a Google statement said. Beach has yet to release a 952-page judgment on Epic's case against Apple or his 914-page judgment on the case against Google. The judge gave an oral summary of his findings during a 90-minute hearing Tuesday. Lawyers will return to court on a date yet to be set to argue what Epic is entitled to in terms of damages.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
China Evergrande liquidators say $255 million of assets have been sold
HONG KONG, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Liquidators of China Evergrande Group, the world's most indebted property developer, said on Tuesday they have sold about $255 million of its assets 18 months into the process and taken control of more than 100 of the company's subsidiaries. Evergrande's debt collapse is the largest in China, lawyers say, and the liquidation has proved challenging as the majority of Evergrande's units and assets are offshore and many of them have been seized by creditors. The developer's shares ( opens new tab will be delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on August 25 after they failed to resume trading per listing rules, the firm also said in a filing.
