CHINA is telling its electric-car battery supply chain that it wants lithium prices to return to sustainable levels.

The government called in a range of market participants last week — from lithium producers to the main carmakers’ association — to discuss “a rational return” for lithium prices, according to a statement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology late Friday.

Lithium has soared nearly 500 percent in the past year, adding to cost pressures for EV producers. – Bloomberg