Within a record 2022 for Argentine exports, lithium was the product with the highest growth in percentage terms, with sales increasing by 236.2% compared to 2021according to the report “Export Complexes” from the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC).
Argentina went from billing US$207 million in lithium exports during 2021 to reach a turnover of US$696 million last year, which implies a jump of US$449 million from one year to the next.
Among the main elements of said complex that are sent abroad are lithium carbonate, lithium chloride, batteries and lithium batteries. The most frequent destinations are China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, Germany and France.
Lithium is still far from being able to strongly influence general exports, it barely means 0.8% of the total products that the country sends abroad.
As every year, In 2022, the record was headed by soybeans and corn, which together reached a turnover of US$34,417, which means 38.1% of total Argentine exports, which last year totaled US$88,446. millions.
Despite its low weight in the balance sheet, lithium has been growing steadily in recent years and gaining ascendancy in the consideration of the record prepared by the INDEC.
In 2017, the mineral represented only 0.3% of Argentine exports, leaving only US$224 million out of a total of US$58,384 million.
Lithium has been gaining ground worldwide and companies operating in the country have been able to capitalize on it over time.
In 2021, the global production of the mineral For the first time, it surpassed the 100,000-ton barrier, quadrupling the numbers reached in 2010.
One aspect to highlight is that the exponential increase in supply did not translate into a price drop. On the contrary, between 2021 and the end of 2022 the international value increased 400%, reaching at times close to US$80,000 per ton.
This is largely explained by a significant increase in the number of electric vehicles manufactured and marketed in the world, because they use batteries with up to 60 kilos of lithium carbonate.
This favorable context is taken advantage of by Argentina, which has 21% of the world’s lithium reserves, although it currently only produces 6% of everything that is extracted on the planet, according to data from Focus Market.
With a view to further developing the industryFrom the Ministry of Energy, they assure that there is a potential investment in lithium mining operations of US$6,473 million.
Regarding the level of production that is estimated from now on, from the area dependent on the Ministry of Economy they anticipate that an additional 373.5 thousand tons will be reached to the current capacity of 37.5 thousand tons per year, which over time, they estimate, it could bring the exports of this mineral to a value close to US$12,000 million.
In the event that this forecast is met, lithium would represent, at today’s values, the 13.5% of total Argentine exports, becoming the second most important product in terms of turnover, only behind soybeans.
Source: Ambito
