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Spot lithium carbonate prices assessed by Fastmarkets fell to 260,000 yuan ($38,079.06) per tonne this week, less than half the price quoted last November. Five analysts polled by Reuters last month had expected the price would drop to 300,000 yuan by the end of this year. "The unprecedented price cuts among traditional auto makers will eat EVs' market share in the short term, hitting lithium demand further," said Vicky Zhao, a Beijing-based senior analyst at Fastmarkets. Lithium prices in the United States and Europe have also fallen, albeit less sharply, amid rising but still tight supplies and a stronger outlook for EV sales. ($1 = 6.8279 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Sonali PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The global nickel market flipped from deficit to surplus over the course of 2022, according to the International Nickel Study Group (INSG). Indonesia's mined nickel production expanded by 48% to 1.58 million tonnes in 2022, according to the INSG. However, as Indonesian production of Class II nickel rises, the Class I market shrinks. Around 70% of the physical nickel supply chain is now priced at a discount to the LME benchmark. LME nickel volumes slumped by 28% last year and January's activity was 60% lower than that of January 2022.

☆ Lithium prices in China have tumbled 29% as slower EV demand hits 'white gold'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The price of lithium, essential to EV batteries, has fallen by 29% from November highs in China. The metal is still worth eight times more than it was before 2021. Sigma Lithium sharply jumped Tuesday following a report that Tesla is thinking about buying the Canadian miner. While this spells an end to its two-year rally, the "white gold" of clean energy continues to be worth eight times more than it was two years ago. China's CATL, which is the world's largest battery producer, reportedly agreed to sell batteries to Chinese EV makers at lower rates.

☆ LG Chem Buys Stake in North Carolina Lithium Miner
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +3 min

South Korea’s LG Chem will take a stake in Piedmont Lithium Inc., boosting its North American presence and banking on incentives to scale up its role in U.S. electric-vehicle supply chain. LG Chem will commit $75 million to Piedmont in return for a 5.7% stake in the miner, whose shares are listed on the Nasdaq and Australian Securities Exchange. PREVIEWThe U.S. is our key market and by preemptively securing raw materials this deal allows LG Chem to provide North American customers with products that satisfy IRA standards, said Mr. Hak-Cheol Shin, Vice Chairman and CEO of LG Chem in a statement. LG Chem is planning to build a $3 billion cathode plant in Clarksville, Tenn., slated to open in 2027. Already, Piedmont has an existing contract to supply Tesla with 50,000 tons annually until 2025, in addition to its new LG Chem supply deal.

With Europe's winter energy crisis abating and power prices falling, there are growing expectations that idled zinc smelter capacity will restart. The exchange's latest positioning report shows four dominant long positions on cash zinc as of Monday. All of which serves to underline just how depleted LME zinc stocks are. STOCKED OUTLME zinc stocks total just 25,075 tonnes, less than one day's worth of global consumption. LME zinc pricing is going to remain volatile for a while yet as shorts betting on a return to surplus have to navigate today's low-stock reality.

Cobalt has lost share to lithium as the Chinese EV market in particular pivots towards non-cobalt battery chemistry. The abrupt turnaround in both narrative and price has led to a surge in trading activity on the CME cobalt contract as producers and consumers respond to the shifting landscape. CME cobalt price, total volume and market open interestCHANGE OF GEARCobalt's fortunes are still tied to the EV sector but the relationship is changing. That eye-watering growth rate would be stronger still were it not for a shift towards non-cobalt battery chemistries, led by China, the world's largest EV market. COBALT FUTURES TAKE OFFOne beneficiary of this turnaround in cobalt market dynamics has been the CME (CME.O), which has seen activity in its cobalt contract mushroom since the middle of last year.

LONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - China was a net exporter of refined zinc last year for the first time since 2007, while exports of refined lead remained super strong for the second year running. China's net trade in refined leadTRADE SWITCHChina exported 116,500 tonnes of refined lead last year, the highest-volume outflow since 2007. The Flin Flon zinc smelter in Canada produced its last zinc in 2022 after more than 25 years of activity. That of the Florence secondary lead plant in South Carolina in 2021, by contrast, was an unexpected hit to the U.S. supply chain. If China gets there first, last year's east-west imbalances in both zinc and lead markets may last longer than expected.

China's own production of refined tin was flat year-on-year at 165,900 tonnes in 2022, according to Shanghai Metal Market. ShFE tin price, market open interest and stocksSHIFT IN POSITIONINGWhile China has reshaped tin's fundamental picture, the price recovery has forced an equally significant shift in fund positioning. Investment funds turned net short on the LME tin contract in September as the price was imploding. Tin market open interest collapsed from 102,106 to 71,218 contracts in the week before the Lunar New Year holidays, indicating a big clean-out of short positions. GOLDILOCKS PRICEThe tin price is now in the Goldilocks zone, not high enough to frighten off physical users, and not low enough to threaten existing supply.

It's the lowest end-year inventory in the system this century and reflects two years of steady withdrawals which have left exchange stocks of metals such as zinc and lead almost depleted. It's no coincidence that all the LME base metals have experienced bouts of extreme tightness over the last couple of years. Zinc stocks were down by 65% and lead stocks down by 59% on December 2021. LME stocks could desperately do with any sort of rebuild, whether seasonal or cyclical. So far, however, significant arrivals remain conspicuous by their absence and until that changes, low visible inventory is going to keep roiling the LME base metals.

London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouse stocks of the galvanising metal total 36,525 tonnes, the lowest amount this century. LME zinc price, spread and stocks; Shanghai Futures Exchange stocksSMELTER DISRUPTIONGlobal refined zinc output fell by 3.2% in January-October, according to the ILZSG, matching the drop-off in usage. Shanghai Metal Market (SMM) estimates total "social" inventories of zinc ingot across seven domestic markets at a low 56,000 tonnes. The longer-term question-mark over Europe's power-hungry smelters hasn't gone away, injecting a whole new twist in the zinc market narrative. In the short term the zinc market is going to remain beholden to the European power market.

From spodumene ore through lithium carbonate to lithium hydroxide, prices have more than doubled again this year after an explosive rally in 2021. Even Goldman Sachs, which outraged lithium bulls with a bearish market call in May, now thinks global supply will fall 84,000 tonnes short of demand this year. New EVs rolling off the automotive production line are the end of the lithium supply chain, but the chain itself is also expanding fast. All of them need raw materials, so their collective stock-building accentuates the rising EV demand curve. Moreover, much of lithium's supply growth is coming from new sources such as China's lepidolite deposits which come with their own new disruption potential.

The flurry of deals comes even as warnings emerge that lithium prices, driven to records by rapid growth in electric vehicles, may peak next year because of a looming supply glut. It also bought majority stakes in the Lakkor Tso Lithium Salar mine in China's Tibet region and the Xiangyuan lithium mine in Hunan province. Zijin has a market capitalisation of about $35 billion and net profit of 15.7 billion yuan ($2.2 billion) last year. Some firms are also working to develop alternative battery materials, which could reduce lithium demand in the long term. Zijin told investors recently it made its mine acquisitions based on lithium carbonate prices of 100,000 yuan a tonne.

President Joe Biden last week doled out $2.8 billion to miners developing new U.S. sources of lithium, nickel, copper and other EV minerals, as well as battery parts manufacturers and recyclers. Those grants followed August's Inflation Reduction Act, which links EV tax credits to minerals extracted domestically or from 20 allies. "People have a misconception about how quickly we can get mines up and running given the U.S. permitting process," said Megan O'Connor, Nth Cycle's CEO. "Hopefully, they'll give us some help and fast track some of the permitting process," said Kent Masters, Albemarle's CEO. The yawning divide between America and China's approaches to funding the EV supply chain is now a top concern for many policymakers and their advisers in the nation's capital.

A preferred solution is to accelerate the energy transition by adding more renewable generation, and crucially, more storage to smooth out the inherent variability of technologies such as wind and solar. At the 121 Mining Investment conference in Sydney on Wednesday the problems were put into focus by the group largely being neglected in the energy transition, the miners and project developers. None of this bodes well for increasing the speed of the energy transition. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterEditing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniLONDON, Sept 16 (Reuters) - The puzzle facing the zinc market is whether demand or supply will fall hardest this year. LME zinc fund net positioningLOW STOCKSThe outright price is falling despite low exchange inventory. Fastmarkets assessments of Antwerp and Italy premiumsSUPPLY HITEurope is at the epicentre of the global zinc supply hit as smelters struggle to cope with soaring power prices. SHIFTING BALANCEZinc's micro dynamics are shifting fast and at the moment it seems that the demand hit is outpacing the supply hit. It's the demand outlook that's weighing on the outright zinc price.

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