The American company Albemarle, the world leader in lithium processing, plans to optimize costs despite the falling cost of this metal. This has been reported Web site companies.
According to the company, it plans to reduce costs by $95 million per year. Albemarle also plans to lay off some employees, the number of which has not yet been determined.
Albemarle CEO Kent Masters said the moves will allow the company to increase production more quickly in the near term and make room for future growth.
Recall that lithium became widespread with the production of lithium batteries. They are used in many appliances and electric vehicles. From the end of 2020 to November 2022, the cost of lithium increased 15 times.
However, in 2023, the prices of this metal dropped. The reason for this was the decrease in demand due to increasing loan interest rates and increasing electric vehicle prices. Lithium production volumes have also increased worldwide. In August 2023, the price of the metal fell to its lowest level since December 2021.
Before that, it was known which countries could do it. come in has been transformed into an analogue of OPEC for solid minerals.
Previously oversupplied brought down World prices for lithium.