Covid-19 lockdown measures in about a dozen Chinese cities have led to slowdowns in many factories and created logistics hurdles that are disrupting trade flows, including for metals such as lithium, cobalt, silicon and magnesium

The latest coronavirus-linked lockdowns in China have instilled an air of bearishness in the manganese ore markets, with a month-long price rally being capped by looming concerns over downstream demand

The natural flake graphite market continued to face availability issues because of uncertainties created by factors such as China’s anti-pollution efforts, Covid-19 outbreaks and global logistics disruptions

The market for both grades of manganese ore softened during the week to Friday March 25, with port prices falling and concerns over demand following Covid-related lockdowns in some major steel-producing areas, including Tangshan

China’s cobalt sulfate prices surged to a three-year high, supported by increasing downstream demand and tight upstream cobalt hydroxide supply

Tianjin’s mass Covid-19 testing hammers commodity port ops, transport

Fundamental changes in agriculture markets make return to “normal” unlikely

Lithium production must quadruple between 2020 and 2030 to meet growing demand, from 345,000 tonnes in 2020 to 2 million tonnes in 2030. That is the biggest challenge and opportunity facing the lithium industry in the next decade

Exploring this critical moment in the new energy market, and the forces of change ahead

After a turbulent 2020 we wanted to know how market participants anticipate cobalt demand will fare in 2021. In this article we explore the results of our exclusive survey and expectations for the market over the next year