It’s been a brutal year to be in the battery metals business. Prices of lithium, nickel and cobalt collapsed in 2023 and have continued grinding steadily lower over the course of 2024. A sector that was once racing to build new supply has been closing mines and deferring projects as low prices bite into the cost curve.
The road to an electric future has turned out to be much bumpier than expected with demand from the all-important electric vehicle (EV) sector not living up to expectations. This is also a story of massive oversupply with too much new capacity brought online at exactly the wrong time.
And it will be supply discipline, or the lack of it, that will determine whether there will be any price recovery in 2025.
EV narrative veers off track
The global EV market is still expanding. November was another record-breaking month with 1.8 million units sold, according to consultancy Rho Motion. Global sales growth over the first 11 months was an impressive 25% relative to 2023.
For the rest of this column: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/electric-dreams-turn-into-nightmare-battery-metals-andy-home-2024-12-20/