Global top lithium producer Albemarle Corp said Tuesday it expects demand for the battery mineral to increase four-fold by 2025, but supply will only meet this growth if the market conditions are right.

Speaking at the Reuters Next conference, Eric Norris, president of the company’s lithium business, said demand will boom but only if prices recover enough to incentivise new projects and expansions across the industry.

“The resource is there, the economics need to improve to incentivise that expansion, that’s the critical thing,” he told the online event.

The US lithium giant announced last week its plans to double lithium carbonate production at its halted Silver Peak site in Nevada by 2025, on the back of growing electric vehicles demand. Capacity is said to raise to 10,000 tonnes/year.

As previously reported by Kallanish, UK metals consulting Roskill estimates long-term lithium prices near to or above $10,000/t. It says prices are set to recover in 2025 with a supply shortage forecast for later in the decade. By then, lithium carbonate prices are forecast at roughly $13,000-15,000/t with lithium hydroxide at $14,500-16,500/t.