ETF Buyers Pile Into Lithium as China Telegraphs Intent to Shift to Electric Vehicles

The third-best performing ETF tracking material producers got a jolt from China after the country said it will set a deadline for automakers to end sales of fossil-fueled vehicles.

Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF climbed 5 percent Monday, poised for the highest close in more than six years, as its biggest holdings FMC Corp., Soc. Quimica & Minera de Chile SA, Samsung SDI Co. and Tesla Inc. advanced.

On Saturday, Xin Guobin, China’s vice minister of industry and information technology, said the government is working with regulators on a timetable to end production and sales of internal-combustion vehicles. The shift to electric vehicles is spurring a surge in demand for lithium batteries and the companies that supply the raw materials.

Last week, investors poured $41 million into Global X Lithium, which trades under the ticker LIT, putting it on course for a sixth straight monthly inflow. The exchange traded fund, which delivered a 41 percent return this year, more than tripled its assets to $441 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The growth of the electric-vehicle market has just completely changed the entire equation for lithium,” Jay Jacobs, the New York-based director of research at Global X Funds, said in a telephone interview. “If China is going electric and other automobile manufacturers and countries are following suit, this is just going to be an electric-vehicle world going forward.”