Lithium battery leader accelerates its global lithium resource layout

Securities Daily reporter Li Ting

On June 15, the Guangzhou Futures Exchange’s benchmark lithium carbonate contract closed at 174.4k yuan per ton, with the price continuing to hold above the 170k yuan per ton level. In the previous trading day (June 12), the lithium carbonate contract closed at 175.3k yuan per ton, ending a nearly one-month pullback trend, as the lithium price returned to a stage high.

Qu Fang, an investment consultant at Uniward Securities, said in an interview with Securities Daily that in the short term, lithium prices are still in a period of price fluctuation and game between supply and demand. The current market is affected by multiple intertwined factors: disruptions to upstream supply chains occur frequently, while downstream demand shows the characteristic of “off-season not off.” The energy storage industry has become the second-largest growth engine in the lithium battery sector. Looking further ahead, as the pace of global energy transition accelerates, demand for lithium resources will continue to grow.

Industry insiders believe that power batteries form the underlying baseline demand for lithium resources, while energy storage has become the key variable affecting lithium price trends this year. In addition, the development of the AI computing power industry further boosts expansion in energy storage installed capacity. At present, major energy storage battery enterprises have all said their production lines are operating at full capacity, with some orders scheduled through the second quarter of next year.

“A portion of the orders is scheduled for next year.” A relevant person in charge from Xiamen HiTech Energy Storage Technology Co., Ltd. candidly told Securities Daily reporters, “This year our corporate orders are sufficient, and production lines have always been operating at full load.”

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (hereinafter “CATL”) also disclosed that in the first quarter of this year, the revenue share from its energy storage business increased significantly year on year. As the positioning of the energy storage market has become increasingly clear, together with the improved implementation of capacity electricity price mechanisms, the stability of energy storage project returns has strengthened, and domestic market demand has entered a phase of concentrated release. Meanwhile, faster overseas AI industry and data center construction continues to drive growth in regional energy storage demand.

Da Dong Times analyst Luo Huanta said that, based on long-term tracked industrial implementation data, enterprise production scheduling plans, and project bidding and tendering situations, strong high-growth momentum in global lithium demand has a solid industrial foundation. Among them, demand for power batteries is clearly influenced by the auto market cycle, industry policies, and seasonal transitions, showing prominent phased volatility characteristics.

In his view, multiple positive factors—such as the upgrade of the new energy industry, the expanding scale of product “going overseas,” and the iterative upgrade of energy storage technologies—are continuously broadening the demand space for lithium resources. Today, industry demand has shifted from the past single-driver model led solely by the automobile industry to a dual-wheel drive模式 in which power batteries and energy storage develop in coordination.

With long-term demand expectations remaining favorable, domestic leaders in lithium batteries are speeding up their global lithium resource layout. In April this year, CATL invested to establish Contemporary Resource Group (Xiamen) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Contemporary Resource”), with a registered capital of 30 billion yuan. The company said that Contemporary Resource will serve as a specialized platform for the group’s new energy mineral resources, coordinating investment, operation, and management work. The purpose of setting up this platform is to optimize the overall business layout and strengthen the supply-chain security line of defense.

Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd. has clearly listed its lithium business as a future core growth engine, and it has already built a “Two Lakes, Two Mines” lithium asset matrix. According to its plan, the company’s equivalent lithium carbonate production in 2026 will reach 120k tons. By 2028, capacity will further increase to 270k to 320k tons, at which time the company will enter the ranks of global leading lithium mine producers.

Qu Fang told reporters that the demand landscape for global lithium resources has undergone a fundamental change. The industry has completely moved beyond a model driven solely by new energy vehicles, forming a diversified development pattern in which power batteries provide backing, energy storage grows rapidly, and supporting demand for computing power expands in parallel. In the short term, the market remains in a tight balance of supply and demand, so prices may fluctuate. Over the medium to long term, as technology continues to advance, the lithium battery recycling system becomes increasingly完善, and new capacity is released in an orderly manner, the industry’s strong cyclical volatility characteristics will gradually weaken, and the long-term foundation for lithium industry development will remain solid.