Critical minerals sector braces for policy upheaval under Trump while experts predict market fundamentals and Republican state interests will preserve industry momentum

After years of insufficient domestic supply that brought prices to record highs, China’s fluorspar supply tightness will ease in 2025 due to several newly developed mining sites as well as rising imports from Africa, sources told Fastmarkets, adding that demand from batteries, especially the energy storage sector (ESS), will continue to rise.

Investment shortfalls, aggravated by recent poor performance in commodities markets, political and economic instability and surging demand, have sown the seeds for the next commodity bull cycle, leading to “metal shocks” in a similar vein to the “oil shocks” of the 1970s, according to economist Philippe Gijsels, chief strategy officer at BNP Paribas Fortis.

Reducing reliance on China’s hugely successful critical minerals supply chain dominance was never going to be easy, as some western mining companies are finding out the hard way.

This adjustment aims to better align the publication with the operational hours of the Chinese market, ensuring domestic market participants have timely access to the prices. Additionally, because the Chinese lithium assessments reflect activity within the local market, this amendment is intended to provide a more efficient and market-relevant pricing for subscribers. The new specifications […]

On September 25, the discontinuation was postponed from the originally scheduled final publication to take into account the needs of market participants that still had physical contracts linked to the lithium contract assessments in place. The affected prices are:• MB-LI-0031Lithium hydroxide monohydrate LiOH.H2O 56.5% LiOH min, battery grade, contract price cif China, Japan & Korea• MB-LI-0027Lithium carbonate 99.5% Li2CO3 min, battery […]

Fastmarkets confirms it will discontinue its lithium contract assessments after their final publication date of Tuesday, December 24.

Get the key takeaways from our recent webinar on the global outlook for the battery raw materials (BRM) market in 2025.

Europe’s hopes of an independent battery supply chain are in jeopardy, some market participants said, after a recent spate of company announcements that were widely regarded as bearish for the burgeoning sector.

The price of lithium is falling, but some Western companies have recently announced more investments in the Lithium Triangle – a region of South America comprising parts of Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.