Developments in prevalent battery chemistries and geopolitical moves to onshore key battery raw materials (BRM) supply will likely require significant changes to the manganese sulfate supply chain, Fastmarkets understands

Much of the focus in the manganese sulfate market is now on the development of a supply chain outside of China, Fastmarkets understands

Sometimes regarded as the “forgotten” battery material, attention towards manganese has increased drastically as participants seek to localize supply chains and ramp up battery production to meet growing demand

Progress is being made toward fostering more environmentally friendly manganese metal production, with market participants increasingly considering the carbon emissions and environmental impact of electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) production

Supply tightness of critical battery raw materials is set to persist in the long term despite investment in greenfield operations and technological developments

Fastmarkets has corrected its weekly price for manganese 99.7% electrolytic manganese flake, in-whs Rotterdam following a reporter error.

Fastmarkets has corrected the published date for Shanghai bonded copper stocks, tonnes; chrome ore inventories at the main ports of Tianjin, Qinzhou, Lianyungang and Shanghai, million tonnes; and manganese ore inventories at the main Chinese ports of Tianjin and Qinzhou, million tonnes.

Weaker demand from China’s downstream electric vehicle (EV) sector continued to exert downward pressure on domestic battery raw material prices in the week to Friday, February 17

US automotive manufacturer Ford’s announcement that it would invest $3.5 billion to build a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) plant in the US state of Michigan marks the chemistry’s adoption in a nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) dominated market

Battery materials firm Umicore has started the industrialization of its high lithium, manganese (HLM) cathode active material (CAM), it said, and was targeting commercial production and use in electric vehicles in 2026