Sichuan New Energy Power to commission 10,000-mt lithium salt capacity by year-end

A weekly update on the trending stories from the New Energy sector. 

On November 2, the highly-anticipated Development Plan for the New Energy Vehicle Industry (2021-2035) was unveiled, which was not only a good news for the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry, but also a boost to cobalt demand.

Cobalt stockpiling will continue, supporting cobalt prices. Inventories of cobalt raw materials will not be high in the near term with the restocking demand ahead of the National Day holidays.

Prices of cobalt are expected to further retreat this week as the arrival of cheap cobalt raw materials impacts the domestic spot market and grow cobalt salt producers inclination to destock. 

According to statistics from the United States Geological Survey in 2015, the world's proven land cobalt resources were about 25 million mt, with reserves of 7.2 million mt. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Australia and Cuba accounted for 68% of the global cobalt reserves. Congo (Gold) is the country with the most abundant cobalt reserves. As of 2014, cobalt reserves in Congo stood at 3.4 million mt, accounting for more than 50% of the world’s total.

Inventory pressure of lithium carbonate, a raw material for digital and power batteries, may continue to mount in April as Chinese lithium salt producers have not yet planned to wind down production. Elevated inventories together with limited downsides in lithium carbonate prices with support from costs, however, may trigger output cut in the second quarter. 

The global widespread of COVID-19 has forced many countries to enforce stringent containment measures which result in a heavy impact on global economic activity. Over the past few months, we saw serious disruption of manpower, transportation and production in China. We are now seeing these scenarios happening around the world.

Prices of industrial-grade lithium carbonate eased on Monday March 30 after held firm for most of March, showed SMM assessments. Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices, however, are expected to face..

The widespread coronavirus has deterred production of NEVs in the European countries, and this may impact the global prospects for NEV production and take a toll on the consumption of raw materials. Last week, bearish sentiment continued to prevail in the cobalt market, which depressed downstream purchases and added to upstream inventory pressure. Sluggish demand reduced prices of battery-grade lithium carbonate, which were underpinned by costs, while fundamentals supported prices of industrial-grade lithium carbonate. 

Transportation activity in coastal provinces has started to return to near normal levels in recent days, but that inland remains more restricted