Here are the key insights from our conversation with Fastmarkets’ Paul Lusty on the future of the battery raw materials and electric vehicle markets

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) ambitious plan to diversify away from oil and into metals will increase local nickel consumption and fund international mining projects, given recent massive investments in nickel-intense industries

Market sentiment for black mass sales to Asia was hit by weakening battery metal prices in the week to Friday June 14, but solid demand from the expanding South Korean market was lending support to the payables, sources told Fastmarkets.

Aluminium and lithium market participants told Fastmarkets the European Commission’s provisional additional duties on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) are supportive for production but they were not convinced they would be enough to reverse the fortunes of the weakening domestic European auto market

Europe’s nascent synthetic graphite sector faces a double threat with China’s overcapacity persisting and US legislation embracing protectionism at the expense of a level playing field, according to the head of a forthcoming anode material producer in Europe

Fastmarkets provide an overview of lithium hydroxide’s recent global performance across key regions and offer insights into what 2024 might hold for battery manufacturers, energy sector analysts and lithium hydroxide buyers.

Low demand from China’s magnet manufacturing sector continued to drive down rare earth prices on domestic and export markets, with suppliers cutting prices to close sales, sources told Fastmarkets in the week to Thursday June 6

Payables for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) black mass in the CIF Asia markets were firm in May despite volatility in battery raw material prices

Toronto, Canada-headquartered Lithium Ionic is on track to start operations at its hard-rock spodumene Bandeira project in Brazil in roughly two years, after it recently published its feasibility study and secured fresh funds to go ahead with the next phase

Fastmarkets forecasts that global steel production will grow at an average annual rate of 1.4% through the end of the decade so ‘green’ steel production methods need to keep pace