The Allkem Ltd (ASX: AKE) share price is on the move on Wednesday morning.
At the time of writing, the ASX 200 lithium miner's shares are up 1% to $12.45.
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Why is the Allkem share price rising?
Investors have been bidding the Allkem share price higher today following the release of the company's second quarter update.
According to the release, Allkem's group revenue for the quarter was US$265 million and its group gross operating cash margin was approximately US$218 million. This reflects record sales revenue of US$151 million from the Olaroz operation despite softer sales units and revenue of US$83 million from the Mt Cattlin operation.
An additional US$32 million in revenue was generated from shipments of 53,715 dmt of low grade spodumene concentrate.
What drove the strong revenue?
Pleasingly, Allkem is still commanding strong prices for its lithium, which helped drive the solid top line result.
Allkem recorded an average of US$46,706 per tonne for its lithium carbonate during the quarter, which was up 16% from the first quarter.
It was a similar story for its spodumene concentrate, which came in 5% higher quarter on quarter at US$5,284 per tonne.
Another positive was the record performance of the Olaroz Lithium Facility, which reported production of 4,253 tonnes of lithium carbonate. This was up 17% on the previous corresponding period and took its half year production to a record of 7,542 tonnes. This was 13% higher than the prior record in 2019.
Outlook
The good news is that management appears positive on the company's outlook despite some analysts predicting that times could get tough for the industry. It said:
EV sales growth is expected to remain robust in 2023 given strong order books and potential pent-up demand. Supportive government targets and policies announced globally (including subsidies or tax incentives) continue to ensure strong fundamentals for future growth
It also revealed that it expects the weighted average price for third party sales of lithium carbonate products in the current quarter to be in line with what was received in the second quarter (US$53,013/tonne).
