Most cobalt producers are likely to be losing money on every ton of cobalt they produce after a price slump last year, Benedikt Sobotka, chief executive at metals miner Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), said on Tuesday…Chinese-owned companies are aggressively expanding cobalt mining in Congo and Indonesia despite the price drop, as they strive to gain market share in the metal used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries…"Cobalt had a terrible year in 2023. The lack of supplier discipline in adding new capacity has really pulled the rug under the cobalt market," Sobotka told Reuters' Global Markets Forum at the World Economic Forum in Davos…The market fundamentals, however, remain intact as global EV penetration rates are growing, he added.

China’s battery industry has seized on a glut in the global cobalt market to push through a change in the way the commodity is priced…A rapid expansion of cobalt mining in Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia has output racing ahead of demand, dragging down global prices. It’s also prompted a push by squeezed Chinese refineries to win changes in how cobalt is bought and sold. Top producers CMOC Group Ltd. and Eurasian Resources Group have agreed to sell more of their material against the local Chinese price of cobalt sulphate, the chemical form used in batteries, according to people familiar with the matter. That’s a shift from pricing against refined cobalt metal that has been typical for decades…The switch is only partial so far, and has been resisted by one major supplier, Glencore Plc, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter…Cobalt prices slumped about 30% last year, and the price of cobalt sulphate in China sank to its lowest since at least 2010 in December, according to Shanghai Metals Market…Like many niche commodities, cobalt supply contracts are often fixed against spot prices assessed by third-party agencies. Miners typically sell hydroxide for sulphate production at a percentage of the global metal price published by Fastmarkets, a UK company…But the Chinese refineries are now referencing cobalt sulphate prices from domestic agency Shanghai Metals Markets, taking advantage of a period of plentiful supply to seek prices which, they say, better reflect an expanding and China-centric battery supply chain. Rystad says EV batteries will account for 41% of cobalt demand by 2030, up from 28% last year…CMOC, which is Chinese, plus Glencore and ERG are the world’s top three cobalt miners, and together account for more than half of global production, according to Rystad.

A new report accuses a massive China-funded nickel industrial complex in Indonesia’s Maluku province of causing “significant” environmental destruction and existential threats to indigenous peoples in the area, adding to the array of issues the nation faces in becoming a major player in the global electric vehicle (EV) supply chain…Released on Wednesday by the US-based Climate Rights International (CRI) advocacy group, the report also alleges that the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) in Halmahera, Maluku, worked with Indonesian police to protect the interests of some nickel miners by engaging in “land grabbing, coercion and intimidation of indigenous peoples”…The CRI report puts a fresh spotlight on China-funded nickel projects in Indonesia, where activists and workers’ unions have raised concerns about safety after a string of fatal accidents. Last month, an explosion killed 10 Indonesians and eight Chinese workers in a nickel smelter linked to China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, at the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park in Sulawesi, another mining hub…The IWIP is an US$11 billion nickel mining and processing complex set up in 2018 by China’s stainless steel giant Tsingshan, and miners Huayou Cobalt and Zhenshi Holding Group…Other companies that reportedly have plans to build facilities at IWIP include German chemical giant BASF and South Korean nickel producer Posco…The CRI report urged global carmakers that source nickel from Indonesia, such as Tesla, Ford and Volkswagen, “to take steps to ensure that nickel used in their electric vehicles is not driving human rights and environmental abuses”….The researchers also found evidence of low compensations for locals after the IWIP took over their land to build the premises…According to the CRI, the IWIP also has built at least five coal-fired plants and plans to construct seven others, which in total will provide “an estimated 3.78 gigawatts per year of energy by burning low-quality coal”…It noted that the use of coal instead of renewable energy defeated the purpose of the green supply chain that was the main selling point of the EV industry, and caused pollution which risked the health of workers and locals…In recent years, a string of work accidents in the China-run nickel smelters in Morowali and Halmahera has underscored what critics say is a lack of government supervision in the burgeoning nickel-refining industry…The metal is crucial for making EV batteries, a growing industry dominated by China…Indonesia has teamed up with firms from China and South Korea to develop its nascent EV battery ecosystem, and it has continuously sought investments from major EV players such as Tesla and China’s BYD.

Britain will establish a body to identify risks to critical imports, the government said on Tuesday as it outlined a strategy to make supply chains more resilient against global shocks…Renewed conflict in the Middle East, including the targeting of international shipping lanes by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group, has threatened trade, and comes after war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic also challenged global supply chains…Britain has sought to work closely with allies including the United States on securing supplies of critical minerals like lithium, nickel, cobalt, graphite and manganese, which are used in electric cars, smartphones and solar panels…The government said the 'Critical Imports and Supply Chains Strategy' would help secure supplies of critical minerals, semiconductors and medicines by establishing a portal to let businesses report disruption quickly…The government also said that supply chain considerations would be taken into account in negotiating future free trade deals with other countries.

LG Chem Ltd. sees the battery industry growing as much as 25% this year, delivering strong returns even as global demand eases from previous highs, according to its chief executive officer. “Those businesses are growing still by leaps and bounds even though people are talking about some slowdown,” Shin Hak Cheol said in an interview with Bloomberg Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland…. In its latest earnings report, the unit missed analyst estimates for fourth-quarter profit amid weaker demand for EVs…LG Chem last month started construction of a cathode plant in Clarksville, Tennessee, with total investment to top $3 billion by 2027. It aims to make the facility the largest plant in the US, with capacity to produce enough cathode materials for 600,000 EVs a year.

Swedish lithium-ion battery producer Northvolt said on Tuesday it has raised $5 billion in the form of the largest green loan raised in Europe as it seeks to expand its battery factory in northern Sweden…The company has now secured more than $13 billion in equity and debt to expand its operations across Sweden, Poland, Germany, the United States and Canada…The new debt, which includes refinancing of the $1.6 billion debt package raised in 2020, is provided by a group of 23 commercial banks, as well as the European Investment Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank…The Swedish company has got orders of over $55 billion from a range of carmakers, including BMW, Scania, Volvo Cars and Volkswagen Group.

The transition toward clean energy and electric vehicles will not be interrupted regardless of who wins the 2024 U.S. presidential election, outgoing U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday…"This economic revolution is underway and it's much bigger than any politician, any one person," Kerry told the Davos audience…He said the CEOs of some of the largest corporations are making clean energy and vehicle investments now that they are unlikely to reverse…"They know what they are doing," Kerry said. "Do you think those CEOs are going to say, 'Oh my God, they just elected a new president, let's go back and build internal combustion engine cars?' Not on your life. Not happening," he said…Kerry also said that even under Trump's presidency, 75% of new electricity that came on line was from renewable sources and that U.S. governors representing the majority of U.S. voters remained in the Paris climate agreement, despite Trump's decision to withdraw from the pact….Adding to this, he said Biden's Inflation Reduction Act - a primarily climate-focused bill that unleashed over $300 billion in clean energy, vehicle and other incentives, has largely benefited Republican-voting states, meaning lawmakers would be reluctant to roll back the investments and jobs that law has created locally.

Volkswagen, whose drive to develop a "solid-state" electric car battery with U.S. startup QuantumScape has been dogged by delays, is casting its net wider in pursuit of the potentially game-changing technology…The German auto giant is holding talks with France's Blue Solutions, which already produces solid-state batteries for Daimler electric buses, about adapting the design for cars, a source with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters…VW and Blue Solutions aim to reach a joint development agreement in the coming months, according to the source who asked not to be identified as the talks are private…Volkswagen's move to widen its options in the field points to the array of technical hurdles holding back wider development of solid-state technology, seen by its backers as the "holy grail" of EV batteries, promising longer driving ranges and shorter charging times than traditional lithium-ion packs…VW, Toyota, BMW and other global automakers are vying to crack the conundrum of solid-state batteries, which remain technically elusive despite decades of research and billions of dollars of investment…"A lot of promises haven't been delivered and several automakers and investors have been burnt," said Rory McNulty at consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. "There's loads of really good verified data and technology, but can they (the industry) do it reliably, at scale?"…Blue Solutions, for its part, faces stiff challenges to radically bring down the four-hour charging time required by its current batteries, which is feasible for buses parked overnight in depots…The sector's lack of commercial success has dampened market enthusiasm; the amount of global venture capital deal activity in solid-state battery companies fell 72% last year to $146 million, according to data from PitchBook…Solid state ideally envisions replacing the liquid electrolyte though which the electrical charge passes in lithium-ion EV batteries with a solid substitute, thus reducing a fire hazard and shrinking the size of battery packs, and using lithium metal for its negative terminal to boost performance… Volkswagen and QuantumScape aren't the only players that have pared their ambitions as they grapple with the technical complexities of solid state…Toyota, the world's biggest automaker ahead of VW, had targeted a 2025 production startup date for its solid-state batteries, but said in June it now does not expect to produce the cells at scale before 2027 or 2028…

China's BYD plans to end production of the pouch-type batteries used in its best-selling hybrids as the automaker seeks to address durability concerns and the risk that they could leak, said three people familiar with the matter…The world's top seller of battery-powered cars last month began converting production lines for pouch-type cells in two of its factories situated in Shaanxi and Zhejiang provinces to produce prismatic batteries instead, said one of the people, who had direct knowledge of the matter…No cases of battery leakages from BYD cars have been reported by the automaker or Chinese regulators to the public. But BYD and some industry experts believe that pouch-type batteries, where the cells are wrapped in a thin metal bag made of aluminum laminated films, have a higher chance of leaking electrolytes, said the three sources.

Tesla Inc has slashed prices of its Model Y cars in Germany, where it lost the spot as top electric vehicle (EV) seller to Volkswagen in 2023, a week after the carmaker reduced its Model 3 and Model Y prices in China…Tesla reduced prices for Model Y Long Range and Model Y Performance by 5,000 euros to 49,990 euros ($54,340) and 55,990 euros respectively, representing a discount of 9% and 8.1% compared to the previous prices…While no reason was given for the move, Tesla struggled in Germany in 2023, posting a 9% decline in new registrations to 63,685 vehicles, against an 11.4% increase in EV sales in Europe's top economy, according to figures from the German federal motor authority KBA…It also comes as EV makers have entered a discount race in China, the world's top car market, that Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Kaellenius called "Darwinistic" last year.