Gelonghui, April 15 | CITIC Securities released a report saying that the Greenbushes lithium pricing mechanism and falling lithium prices dragged down Tianqi Lithium's 2023 performance, believing that the company still maintains a leading cost advantage, and that long-term lithium production capacity growth will offset the decline in profits caused by falling lithium prices to a certain extent. The bank expects net profit of $3,738 billion, $4.708 billion and $5.54 billion respectively from 2024 to 2026. The target price for H shares is HK$49, and the rating was downgraded from “buy” to “increase holdings”. According to CITIC Securities, Tianqi Lithium's performance declined year by year, and the fourth quarter results turned into losses, mainly due to falling inventory losses and minority shareholders' profits and losses affecting the company's performance. According to IGO, the pricing mechanism for Greenbushes lithium ore this year will be changed from the previous quarterly pricing to monthly pricing and linked to the relevant lithium price index. This will bring the company's lithium ore price closer to the price of lithium salt. Last year, the company's production and sales volume of lithium products was 51,000 and 57,000 tons respectively, and the cost per ton was 61,000 yuan. Due to the low cost of Greenlithium concentrate, the low cost advantage of the company's lithium salt is still significant.