Albemarle falls on weak Q4 results; to idle Australia lithium plant

Shares of world's largest producer of lithium Albemarle ALB.N drop 2.3% to $171.40 in premarket trade

ALB says it would idle a major Australian processing plant

Posts larger-than-expected quarterly loss; Alb lost 53 cents per share vs analysts' expected a loss of 41 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG

Lithium prices plunged more than 90% over the past two years due in part to oversupply from China

So far this year, ALB is up 24%