[SMM Analysis] Livent resumes production epidemic situation in Hombre Muerto Salt Lake Project or actively reduces production of Lithium Raw material supply

Published: Apr 7, 2020 15:46

SMM4, March 7: since the Argentine government issued an emergency decree requiring mandatory national quarantine from March 20, 2020 to March 31, 2020, Livent has suspended operations and evacuated employees and contractors from the mountains where Hombre Muerto is located. Suspension of all production operations in the Argentine provinces of Catamarca and Salta.

On 20 March, as a result of the exemption decree issued by the Government of Argentina, Livent considered that under the exemption Act, the company was eligible for exemption to resume production and actively obtained authorization to resume production in close cooperation with the provincial and federal authorities.

On April 6, Livent issued a notice saying that the, Hombre Muerto Salt Lake project had been exempted. It is understood that the annual output of the project is about 20,000 tons.

Livent said that due to the impact of the new crown epidemic, the company has abandoned the previously issued production guidelines for 2020. The impact of the new crown epidemic on the company will be updated in the later announcement. Argentina's salt lakes were affected by epidemic control measures in March to suspend production, livent affected capacity of 17500 tons of LCE/ year.

According to the balance of supply and demand of SMM, the global supply of lithium raw materials in 2020 is 44LCE10 million tons. At present, the global epidemic has spread, with production in Australia's major mines maintaining normal production, accounting for about 38% of the total global lithium raw material supply; Chile, although the development of the epidemic situation is not optimistic, salt lake production has not been greatly affected, accounting for about 25% of the global lithium raw material supply; Argentina's two major salt lake production accounts for about 8% of the global lithium raw material supply, according to the latest news, Livent has been exempted and orocobre is still at a standstill. In terms of the overall situation of the year, the current downstream terminal demand is more seriously impacted, and the upstream lithium salt supply is less affected because it is concentrated in China, where the epidemic has been relatively stable. With the development of the epidemic and the industry's expectations of future demand, lithium raw material suppliers may take the initiative to reduce production and reduce inventory accumulation throughout the year.

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