Posco delays Argentinian lithium projects on low prices

Market: Battery materials, Metals
24/04/25

South Korean conglomerate Posco, which owns battery materials producer Posco Future M, is pushing back the completion of its Argentinian lithium projects by half a year because of a sluggish recovery in lithium prices.

Its 25,000 t/yr lithium hydroxide plant in Argentina came on line last year. Posco was planning to complete its phase 2 — alongside an upstream brine project that provides feedstock to the plant, which would have raised its capacity by another 25,000 t/yr — by July-September. But this has now been postponed to January-March 2026.

Posco is looking to ramp up its phase 1 by the end of 2025, but pushed back the completion schedule to "build optimal production system" given a market slowdown and slow recovery in lithium prices, it said in its latest quarterly results presentation on 24 April.

It earlier this year ended a nickel refinery joint venture with major Chinese lithium-ion battery cathode active material (CAM) precursor manufacturer CNGR. The joint venture's liquidation is expected to be completed by June, Posco said on 24 April.

Posco Future M's revenue rose by 17pc on the quarter but fell by 26pc on the year to 845bn South Korean won ($589mn), because of higher CAM revenue and more anode active materials' (AAM) sales. Operating profit came in at W17bn, rebounding from a loss of W41bn a quarter earlier but was lower than W38bn a year earlier. The subsidiary reported recovering CAM sales, partly owing to rising sales of high-nickel products, with a boost to AAM sales because of higher overall demand for non-Chinese AAM, said Posco.

Chinese lithium carbonate prices have continued to trend downwards recently, weighed down by the trade war between the US and China since early April. Prices for 99.5pc grade lithium carbonate were assessed at 69,000-72,000 yuan/t ($9,463-9,874/t) ex-works China on 22 April, down from Yn69,500-72,500/t ex-works on 21 April and Yn70,000-73,500/t ex-works on 17 April.

By Joseph Ho

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