Continuation:Lithium is not a commodity with an established...

Continuation:
Lithium is not a commodity with an established public price, since the market is small and 80% of transactions are carried out through long-term contracts between parties. In this area, China dominates the value chain, especially in the refining and industrialisation of lithium.The drop in demand for electric cars in Europe and the United States, along with the inflow of lower quality lithium from Africa, have contributed to the decrease in the price of this product.The latest report of the Ministry of Mining of the Nation on the international mineral market shows that in February the price of lithium carbonate among producers in Asia (China, Japan and South Korea) averaged US$9,815 per ton, which represented a drop of 3.4% compared to the previous month and a collapse of 30.3% year-on-year compared to US$14,088 per ton in February 2024.According to the document, this decrease responds to a persistent lithium carbonate surplus in the market, despite the growing demand for batteries for electric vehicles in China. Global oversupply has kept prices under pressure, while uncertainty around trade policies in the United States and other economies has generated an environment of instability in the short term.The historical analysis shows that the price of lithium reached its peak in November 2022, with more than US$80,000 per ton, driven by the fever of the electric battery market and the shortage of supply at that time. However, since 2023, the value has fallen drastically, with an average annual price of US$39,392 per ton in that year and US$12,526 in 2024.