Chinese Lithium Titan Ganfeng Lithium Industry recently released its forecast for the 2024 annual performance, expecting a net loss of up to 2.1 billion Chinese yuan, marking the first loss since its listing. Another lithium industry giant, Tianqi Lithium Industry, also reported its worst performance since going public.
On January 24th, Ganfeng Lithium Group Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Ganfeng Lithium Industry”) announced its forecast for the 2024 annual performance, expecting a net loss attributable to the shareholders of the listed company to be between 1.4 billion and 2.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year turn from profit to loss.
The announcement cited the significant decline in performance mainly due to market fluctuations in lithium products, with a drop in sales prices of lithium salts and lithium battery products. Additionally, the company’s financial assets suffered a decline in prices during the reporting period, especially with a significant drop in the stock price of Pilbara Minerals Limited, leading to an approximate 1.64 billion yuan loss in fair value changes for the company.
According to its official website, Ganfeng Lithium Industry’s business covers various crucial segments of the value chain, including lithium extraction in the upstream, lithium compound and metal lithium processing in the midstream, and lithium battery production and recycling in the downstream. As of December 2017, by production capacity, Ganfeng Lithium Industry ranked as the third-largest lithium compound producer globally, the largest in China, and the world’s largest producer of metal lithium.
Furthermore, as one of the Chinese “Lithium Industry Titans,” Tianqi Lithium Industry presented its historically worst performance on January 23rd, with a forecast of a net loss between 7.1 billion and 8.2 billion yuan for the 2024 fiscal year.
Tianqi Lithium Industry stated that due to market fluctuations in lithium products, the overall market prices showed a significant downward trend within the reporting period, resulting in substantial declines in both sales prices and gross profit margins of lithium products compared to the same period last year. Additionally, the mismatch in the pricing mechanisms of chemical-grade lithium spodumene of its subsidiary Talison Lithium Pty Ltd and the pricing mechanism of the company’s lithium chemical products sales led to a period of operational losses for the company.
Moreover, on January 13th, Jiangte Electric Machinery disclosed its forecast for the 2024 annual performance, anticipating a loss between 236 million and 285 million yuan, marking its second consecutive year of losses. Jiangte Electric Machinery’s main businesses include lithium mica mining and lithium carbonate processing, as well as the research, production, and sales of special motors. The company is designated as a national Torch Plan high-tech enterprise.