Bolivia has the highest price in Lithium exports

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As of February of this year, Bolivia recorded the highest lithium export price since it started marketing this soft metal. In 2016, the average cost reached US$8,368 per ton (t), and as of the first two months of 2022, it reached US$28,218 per ton.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in 2016, 19.33 tons were exported to the Chinese market, worth US$161,760, at an average price of US$8,368 per ton of lithium carbonate (Li2CO3).

Meanwhile, in 2017 production increased, and 45.3 t were exported to China and Russia for US$491,792, making an average cost of US$10,856 per ton.

A year later, production and marketing to foreign markets dropped to 30.2 t, to China and the United States, worth US$561,140, at an average of US$18,580 a ton.

CRISIS

While in 2019 and 2020, the country recorded no exports of lithium carbonate, but the state-owned Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) engaged in the accumulation of the metal. In July 2020, YLB authorities indicated that production was stockpiled from 2017 to that year, as the price had fallen to US$6,250 a ton of Li2CO3.

It should be taken into account that in October and November 2019, there were political conflicts in the country, which affected the industrialization of lithium, as Potosi organizations pressured the then government to abrogate Supreme Decree 3738 that established YLB’s partnership with Germany’s ACI Systems for that purpose. It was compounded by the COVID-19 health crisis, which arrived in Bolivia in March 2020 and paralyzed all production activities.

With Luis Arce’s arrival to power in November 2020, lithium carbonate exports were reactivated, and last year a total of 1,018.5 tons were commercialized for a value of US$9.9 million to China, the United States, and Russia. The average cost per ton reached US$9,759.

This year alone, in February, 80.8 tons were sold for US$2.3 million to Russia, with an average sale of US$28,218 per ton, the highest since Bolivia began producing and selling Li2CO3 abroad.

The Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, Franklin Molina, remarked that “good prices are expected at least until 2024,” according to the projections of the International Energy Agency.

“The demand would increase almost 500%, given the need and the requirement that Asian, European, and American countries have,” said the Minister of Hydrocarbons.

He added that in 2021 the production reached 543 t of lithium carbonate because the plant was reactivated. “For this year, we are bordering 900 metric tons. An important aspect is that we already supply automotive batteries to the Bolivian company Quantum”.

The current production of LiCO3 is carried out in the lithium carbonate pilot plant located in the town of Llipi in the Uyuni salt flat in Potosí and has a capacity of 1,000 tons per year.

The lithium carbonate industrial plant, with a capacity of 15,000 tons per year, is expected to be delivered by the end of this year to increase production.

With information from La Razón