Climateer Investing: Electric Vehicles: World's Largest Lithium Producer, Albemarle Cuts Forecast On Slumping Prices (ALB)

After hours the stock was down $6.21(-5.05%) at $116.75, a three year low if it holds through Thursday's trading.

From Reuters, November 1, 5:11 PM EDT:

Albemarle (ALB.N), the world's largest producer of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, trimmed its annual forecast on Wednesday and reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit amid slumping prices for the ultralight metal.
Shares fell 1.9% to $120.67 in after-hours trading.
Worries have been mounting that global EV demand is softening and not keeping pace with aggressive growth targets set by automakers and regulators.
That is reflected in lithium prices, which have tumbled more than 60% this year. Albemarle, which supplies Tesla (TSLA.O) and other automakers, sells most of its lithium on long-term contracts linked to market pricing.
The company now expects the volume of lithium it sells this year to increase at least 30% from last year's levels, but for prices to increase only 15%, well short of the strong growth Wall Street had come to expect....

....MUCH MORE

If interested see also Monday's "Repost: "The Electric Vehicle Transition Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks" (plus a free gift)".

Plus some o'that lithium:

"Ranked: World's Largest Clay and Hard Rock Lithium Projects"
A reminder, lithium is not rare.

In just the last couple weeks we've seen:

"Lithium revival a dead cat bounce as prices slump to 20-month low"
This is a huge tell on both the supply and demand sides but more on the demand (end use). It's something that's been worrying a lot of observers for months....

And a whole lot more:

....The Chinese cartel had set 250,000 yuan per ton as their line in the sand. It didn't hold.

Cartels are hard.

Some of the links in July 6's "Australia forecasts brutal lithium price correction as output surges":

Elon Musk Said Lithium Mining Is Not A Bottleneck, Lithium Refining Is; And He Thought... (TSLA)
...we should do that.And:
"Electric vehicle battery makers test a future without lithium"
"How China is winning the race for Africa’s lithium"
"Chinese Lithium Finally Ticks Up After Five-Month Slide"
World Bank: "Commodity Prices to Register Sharpest Drop Since the Pandemic" (special focus: metals)
Reuters "Exclusive: Chinese lithium producers set price floor as demand evaporates, sources say"

You may have noticed lithium becoming unloved and unwanted:*

Chinese spot prices, yuan per ton, for Lithium Carbonate,

99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery grade from Trading Economics

*Related (mommy, why is that man standing on his desk naked and yelling about lithium?):