Lithium: a commodity in increasing demand

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The world’s appetite for lithium is growing. Mobile phones, electric cars and many other devices rely on lithium ion batteries and the battle for lithium resources will intensify in the next few years.

The FT has acquired import and export trade data for lithium for 2001 to 2009. View the map by clicking on the link below. It shows information for each country. Chile dominated world exports up to 2008, but Bolivia is set to take over with the discovery of large lithium deposits.

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Use the map to see data for the largest lithium importers and exporters for different years, and zoom in to view specific countries. Figures represent thousands of US dollars. Only countries with over $100,000 of exports or imports in any of the years 2001 to 2009 are shown. Some 2009 figures are not yet available.