Chile to open calls for preferential pricing on lithium in second half of 2024

Chile's CORFO agency last year awarded preferential pricing contracts for lithium produced by SQM to Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD and China's Tsingshan Holding Group. Chile initially had a bidding process for preferential prices on Albemarle production in 2018 with three companies, but the deal fell through following problems with supply and prices.

Chile will open calls in the second half of 2024 for lithium component producers to obtain preferential pricing on the metal, President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday.

The Andean nation is the world's second-largest lithium producer and the strategy announced by Boric last year is in part aimed at spurring local investment in technologies using lithium, including batteries and battery components. "At the beginning of the second half of this year, (state development agency) CORFO is going to make a second call to be able to select specialized lithium producers to promote value-added initiatives in our country," Boric said during an invent promoting investment in Chile.

The contracts of the two current lithium operators in Chile, Albemarle and SQM, provide that a part of the production will be awarded at preferential prices ​​to companies that develop some type of added value in the country. Chile's CORFO agency last year awarded preferential pricing contracts for lithium produced by SQM to Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD and China's Tsingshan Holding Group.

Chile initially had a bidding process for preferential prices on Albemarle production in 2018 with three companies, but the deal fell through following problems with supply and prices. On Tuesday, BYD said it was postponing plans for a 2025 lithium cathode plant in Chile due to "uncertainty."