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

Guoxuan Hi-Tech acquired the Göttingen plant of Bosch Group and established the first new energy production and operation base in Europe.

China's new energy vehicle market demand has grown rapidly, leading to stronger demand for ternary and iron-lithium materials. The global supply of nickel and cobalt raw materials is tightening, and the increase in downstream demand will support the rise of lithium prices in 2021.

Automobile sales have shown a gradual recovery trend since April. China automobile production and sales have achieved year-on-year growth for eight consecutive months as of November.

According to the insurance data of new energy passenger cars, the number of insured cars in November stood at 177,000, up 40.5% from the previous month.

China's new energy vehicle market demand has grown rapidly, leading to stronger demand for ternary and iron-lithium materials. The global supply of nickel and cobalt raw materials is tightening, and the increase in downstream demand will support the rise of lithium prices in 2021, said SMM’s senior cobalt-lithium analyst Miranda Mei.

According to SMM survey, cobalt prices trended lower in September-October but have stabilised recently. Inquiries for cobalt raw materials and trades rose. A small number of producers reported that they planned to delay the arrivals of raw materials at ports from September to early October, and the overall arrivals are expected to rise from October to November.

CATL will further strengthen its cooperation with Mercedes-Benz in the field of battery technology to support the large-scale electrification of Mercedes-Benz models.

China has taken a leading position in global new energy industry despite source starvation; mining and battery sectors are highly concentrated in the global new energy value chain, while smelters and material producers, who are in the middle of the value chain, are less concentrated and suffer from thin gross profits and overcapacity, said Racket Hu, vice president of SMM.

In February, SMM will be hosting a 4-session special webinar series on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Wednesdays and Fridays, 5pm CST.