CHINA’S Tianqi Lithium Corp.one of the world’s top lithium producers, posted its first net profit in two years Sunday as prices for the commodity used in electric-vehicle (EV) batteries rebounded strongly from a protracted slide.

Chengdu-based Tianqi said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange its net income was 85.8 million yuan (US$13.3 million) for the first half of 2021, rebounding from a loss of 696.6 million yuan a year earlier.

That implies a second-quarter profit of 333.7 million yuan, after a 247.9 million yuan loss in January-March, marking Tianqi’s best quarterly result since the fourth quarter of 2018.

Tianqi posted seven straight quarterly losses from mid-2019 after a precipitous three-year plunge in lithium prices, driven by oversupply, left the company short of funds and facing default on billions of dollars in loans.

But in December it secured a US$1.4 billion lifeline investment in its Australian operations from IGO Ltd and has been boosted by a near tripling in lithium carbonate prices over the past 12 months as demand from the EV sector roars back. (SD-Agencies)