Value of Australia’s lithium exports more than triple from last year

Australia’s lithium and base metals like nickel, aluminium and copper are forecast to earn around $47 billion (USD 31.8 billion) in the current financial year, according to the Australian government’s latest forecasts.

April 4, 2023 Bella Peacock

The Mount Marion Lithium site in Western Australia doubled its capacity in 2022 in response to soaring lithium demand.

Image: Mineral Resources Limited / Twitter

The value of Australia’s lithium exports alone are expected to exceed $18.5 billion this year, up from $5.3 billion in 2021–22, according to the Australian government’s Resources and Energy Quarterly. It is worth noting the lithium market was worth just $1.2 billion in 2020–21, demonstrating the sector’s enormous year-on-year growth.

Lithium’s tripling value looks like something of a shining light in a graph showing the value of nearly all Australia’s other exports like coal, natural gas, iron ore trending down. In fact, the export value of lithium and base metals are expected to equal that of coal within the next four years, reaching parity by 2027–28.

Base metals include materials like copper, nickel, tin, aluminium, zinc, and lead. While these are, of course, vital to a number of industries, an increasing portion is used by renewable industries. Meanwhile, in 2022 Australia grew its overall marketshare for lithium, reaching 53% of the world’s total production.

“The latest Resources and Energy Quarterly underlines the importance of our critical minerals sector,” Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King, said.

Australian players in the battery value chain.
*Image: Australian government's Resources and Energy Quarterly*

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.