China’s top three lithium giants accumulated over 10 billion yuan in losses last year.

China’s top three lithium companies, Tianqi Lithium, Ganfeng Lithium, and Shengxin Lithium Energy, have recently released their 2024 performance reports, all showing losses totaling over 10 billion RMB.

Tianqi Lithium reported a 67.75% decrease in operating income to 13.063 billion RMB in 2024. However, the net profit attributable to the company’s shareholders recorded a loss of 7.905 billion RMB, a significant 208.32% decrease compared to the previous year, marking its worst performance since going public in 2010.

Similarly, Ganfeng Lithium was not spared from the downturn, with a 42.66% year-on-year decrease in operating income to 18.906 billion RMB in 2024. The company reported an annual loss of 2.074 billion RMB, marking its first annual loss since its listing.

Shengxin Lithium Energy also experienced its first loss in nearly five years, with operating income dropping by 42.38% to 4.581 billion RMB in 2024. Its net profit attributable to shareholders showed a loss of 622 million RMB, a steep 188.51% decrease from the previous year.

Shengxin Lithium Energy stated that the slowing growth in the new energy vehicle market and increased global economic uncertainty have led to an imbalance in the demand for lithium salt products not keeping up with the rapidly increasing supply, resulting in an oversupply situation in the market.

Industry analysts attribute the continuous decline in lithium prices as the main reason for the losses incurred by Chinese lithium enterprises, with the concentration of global lithium resource capacity release in 2024 being a major factor leading to low lithium prices.

Experts predict that the lithium industry may still face a bottoming phase in 2025, and the restoration of supply-demand balance will depend on a significant improvement in demand from the consumer side and capacity reduction on the supply side. The significant losses of China’s top three lithium companies undoubtedly serve as a warning for the entire industry.