Gigafactory Slowdown Means Slower Lithium Demand Growth

John Robertson

PortfolioDirect

Potential lithium producers often try to highlight their investment upside by using charts showing lithium production undershooting future demand. The one thing we know with certainty about the lithium market is that this cannot happen in practice. In reality, some combination of changes to currently expected demand and supply will have to occur to bring about balance, at best, or create a surplus. Companies are generally not addressing what form such an adjustment may take. Tesla, the US electric car manufacturer, hinted at one source of adjustment when it released its quarterly 10Q filing ((VIEW LINK) in the USA on Friday. Tesla is now widely known in the mining industry for its landmark Gigafactory, the largest single new source of lithium demand currently anticipated. Tesla was not commenting on the state of the lithium market itself but, in referring to the Gigafactory, Tesla drew attention to the size and complexity of the undertaking being possible causes of delay and, if realised, reasons to modify the expected trajectory of lithium demand.


John Robertson
John Robertson
PortfolioDirect

John Robertson is Chief Investment Strategist for PortfolioDirect a provider of resource sector investment stock ratings and portfolio strategies for mining and oil and gas investors. He has worked as a policy economist, corporate business...

Expertise

No areas of expertise

I would like to

Only to be used for sending genuine email enquiries to the Contributor. Livewire Markets Pty Ltd reserves its right to take any legal or other appropriate action in relation to misuse of this service.

Personal Information Collection Statement
Your personal information will be passed to the Contributor and/or its authorised service provider to assist the Contributor to contact you about your investment enquiry. They are required not to use your information for any other purpose. Our privacy policy explains how we store personal information and how you may access, correct or complain about the handling of personal information.

Comments

Sign In or Join Free to comment