Chinese lithium majors sink into red despite EV growth

HONG KONG -- The rise of China's electric vehicle industry is sending shock waves through the global auto market, but local players producing lithium -- a key ingredient for EV batteries -- are feeling financial pain from depressed prices.

Tianqi Lithium and Ganfeng Lithium, two of the major Chinese producers of the indispensable metal, separately announced Tuesday night that they slipped deep into the red in the first six months of this year.