On the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – which was signed into law on August 16, 2022 – Fastmarkets has highlighted three takeaways from the landmark legislation and its impact on battery raw materials

China’s automotive output and sales both fell in July, on a month-on-month and year-on-year basis, because of reduced seasonal demand in the summer season and the higher base in July 2022, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said this week

Fastmarkets has corrected its assessments of the black mass payable indicators, cif South Korea, for both nickel and cobalt, which were published incorrectly on Wednesday August 16 due to a back-end calculation error.

Fastmarkets is launching an assessment of the lithium payable as part of its set of weekly price assessments for black mass, CIF South Korea, starting on Wednesday August 16.

US-headquartered lithium producers Albemarle and Livent are expecting lithium spot prices to recover from the weakness seen in recent months, because they foresee a brighter demand picture for the remainder of the year

Albemarle has increased its revenue outlook for 2023 partially due to expectations of improving lithium prices, although some analysts expect the lithium market will be oversupplied in upcoming years

Growth in the lithium market could lead to a significant increase in the supply of tantalite once new lithium projects come on stream, according to market participants

Fastmarkets explores two key emerging battery chemistries and whether they have the ability to alleviate battery material supply challenges

Fastmarkets experts use the Fastmarkets NewGen lithium long-term forecast to explore Europe's lithium reserves and look into whether there is adequate lithium supply to meet the soaring demand for sustainable energy solutions

The anode market has increasingly shifted focus to synthetic graphite from natural material in response to increased capacity and changing feedstock in China, which dominates the global market. And in response Fastmarkets will start to price assess petroleum needle coke and green petroleum coke on an ex-works China basis