China's Guangzhou Futures Exchange Addresses Lithium Shortage Fears

China's Guangzhou Futures Exchange (GFEX) has added more warehouses for lithium carbonate to address fears of a shortage of cargoes available for January delivery. The move aims to alleviate irrationality in the futures market and has been seen as an effort to calm market concerns. The most-active lithium carbonate contract surged 7% on Friday, leading to an investigation by the bourse, with open interest for the January contract being well above the spot inventory level. Despite the recent price increase, the outlook for Chinese lithium carbonate spot prices remains bearish, with spot prices down more than 80% since the record high hit in November last year.