According to relevant reports, on March 26, the construction of phase II of Millison Modern Industrial Park, which mainly undertakes the production of super-large structural parts such as 5G communication body, new energy vehicle motor, power battery, electronic control system and body, was held in Dajiang Scientific Innovation City in Tianming District, Chongqing.

In the past 2021, China's new energy industry developed rapidly, and the demand for the new energy vehicle market was greatly increased. According to the record of 2021, the global cumulative sales of new energy passenger cars exceeded 6.31 million, more than 2.2 times that of 2020. China has accounted for 52% of the global shares of new energy vehicles, with 3.312 million vehicles sold, up 275% year-on-year. Meanwhile, the installed capacity of motive power lithium batteries reached 154.5GWh, up 143% year-on-year, in 2021.

As of January 26, China battery-grade lithium carbonate offers continued to rise, according to SMM prices.

The average monthly price of battery-grade lithium carbonate was 236,478 yuan/mt in December 2021, up 20% on the month. The prices are likely to rise further as the downstream restocking extends.

Cobalt and lithium were undoubtedly the topic of the year which featured recovery and growth. As the shortage of upstream minerals drove up the prices of cobalt and lithium salt, many midstream and downstream enterprises have embarked on the road of competing with upstream miners for cobalt and lithium resources in order to control their costs.

The market sentiment of lithium ore increased further. SQM, the world's second-largest lithium miner, predicted that the average price of lithium will rise by nearly 50% compared to Q3 in Q4.

The new production capacity of lithium resources will be put into operation intensively after 2022-2023, and the production may be lower than expected. It is expected that there will still be a supply shortage of 24,000 mt LCE in 2022.

The average price of Ni 1.5% Philippine laterite nickel ore stood at $82/wmt last week, flat on the week.

This is a roundup of news in the steel industry for last week.

SHFE nickel prices are expected to fluctuate between 141,000-148,000 yuan/mt, and LME nickel prices are expected to move between $18,800-19,600/mt this week.