China? Leading consumer
> China gets 90% of its imports from Chile and Argentina; Africa and soon Bolivia would become more notable source
> Some companies like LTR does not want to sell to China, but eventually may be forced to
> And at lower prices, based on prices Chinese battery makers/lithium resellers demand or at languishing market prices
USA?
> Soon closing to imports with forthcoming tariffs unless tariff exempted
> Trump 2.0 likely to unleash domestic exploration efforts for mineral self sufficiency
> US has plenty of lithium; Standard Oil about to get going there
> 60% of Tesla being produced in China, not likely going to change anytime soon
Europe?
> EU battery efforts in shambles, Northvolt just went belly up
> EU legacy autos dragging their feet on EVs, and in deep trouble
> More likely for EU to buy lithium in China where more of their future EVs will be made
Japan?
> Toyota is married to hybrids and more likely to go the way of hydrogen to differentiate themselves
> Japanese auto industry also under seige and global market share declining fast
Australian lithium industry would need to better hope for emergence of an alternate large use for lithium e.g the energy storage space. Otherwise its future is mediocre at best.
