Antonina Levashenko, Head of the International Best Practices Analysis Department at the Gaidar Institute, told the Prime that Lithium mine shutdown in China's Jiangxi province to boost costs for battery and electric vehicle makers.
“Due to shutdown of large-scale production in Jiangxi, this could cause a strong adjustment in the structure of lithium supply in the entire Chinese market and a further increase in its price, significantly increasing the costs of the final participants in the supply chain, i.e. battery and electric vehicle manufacturers,” the expert explained.
Antonina Levashenko also noted that suspension of production could be related to the Chinese government’s efforts to regulate price competition in the electric vehicle sector. According to her estimates, “if all seven mines currently closed in the province fail to pass licensing and are unable to produce by the end of 2025, this will result in a decline in the volumes of the province’s processing plants by 15-16.000 tons per month, i.e. about 18-19% of their total monthly production, which will partially paralyze the industry of Jiangxi, as it depends on lithium.”