This is a copy of Benchmark's latest weekly news letter. It is...

This is a copy of Benchmark's latest weekly news letter. It is really just a flyer to attract paying customers as to what lies beneath the hood

Notice about 8 lines down, Talga gets a mention

Happy Friday!

Growing demand and insufficient supply will lead to more critical mineral price volatility this decade, Benchmark’s Chief Data Officer Caspar Rawles told delegates at Benchmark'sGiga Europe event this week in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sustained upstream investment is more vital than ever in the current low price environment, as declining cell prices are expected to further boost battery demand.

The EU is no exception to this, with its Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) bolstering its pipeline capacity and raw material needs.

The CRMA’s impact has been especially evident in Sweden, now set to become Europe’s top anode supplier.

Benchmark forecasts Sweden will produce 40% of the EU’s battery anodes from 2028 onwards owing to major recent investments by Shanghai Putailai and Talga Group into synthetic and natural anode capacity there.

However, Europe still needs to increase overall cell capacity, with Benchmark data showing the region’s 2035 cell demand will be more than double its domestic supply.

Poland, Hungary, Germany and Sweden are forecast to produce 93% of European battery cells in 2024, dropping to 60% by 2035 as France and Germany bring capacity online over the next decade.

Early March saw the first increase in Chinese domestic lithium prices in 2024, in a possible sign of a market recovery.

Battery grade lithium carbonate rose 11% week-on-week and lithium hydroxide rose 5.4%, driven by purchases from cathode manufacturers expecting higher cell production this month.

However, further price strengthening is needed to secure new lithium capacity capable of narrowing future deficits. A third of forecast production from projects under development need higher prices to incentivise expansions, according to Benchmark data.

Chinese nickel sulphate rose 4.2% to its highest level in four months at the end of February following Chinese and Indonesian production cuts.

However, sulphate refiners are maintaining low raw material inventories, cautious about the potential for further declines.

Have a good weekend,

The Benchmark Source Team