Battery metal prices are on the floor, and massive expansions by Chinese miners have been instrumental in driving them lower. Now, with many Western rivals cutting output or shutting down entirely, they want to get even bigger…Zijin Mining Group Co., China’s most valuable producer, said this week it’s planning acquisitions of “ultra-large mines or mining companies with global influence” to boost business in lithium and other metals…CMOC Group, which last year overtook Glencore as the world’s top cobalt producer, said the return of “rational” pricing in battery metals opened a window for global acquisitions…They also may add to the alarms in Western capitals about China’s stranglehold on many critical minerals…Even with landmark spending packages rolled out by the US and European Union, there’s a strong chance China’s dominance in cobalt, nickel and lithium will be greater in a few years…Even so, these are raw materials that will be needed in ever-greater volumes as the energy transition gathers pace, regardless of who mines them…Efforts to curb China’s expansion through diplomatic and legal means will likely continue, but for the good of the planet, politicians’ time might be better spent focusing on efforts to keep pace.

These aren’t exactly boom times, as the entire resource space is trading well off its 2022 highs and still has a wobbly global economy to contend with…For most of the past couple of years, stock trading globally has been dominated by the megacap Big Tech bonanza…At best, resources are seen by the investing multitudes as cyclically out of favour. At worst, they are relics of the old economy soon to be made obsolete…It’s been more than a decade of doldrums for commodities, in fact, ever since the last supercycle ended around 2011. The latest leg of misery, since 2022, has been fuelled by a downturn in manufacturing as well as China’s faltering economy, which is plagued by high debt levels and a real estate crisis…Cue the glimmers of hope…Goldman Sachs: “With the trough in global manufacturing behind us and our economists’ strong conviction of interest rate cuts in the U.S. and Europe … we expect further support to commodities demand and prices.”

Hyundai on Wednesday revealed plans to invest more than $50 billion in South Korea by 2026, with a huge chunk dedicated to boosting the development and production of electric vehicles…Along with its affiliate Kia, Hyundai is the world's third-largest automaker by sales, but the South Korean giant lags in the EV sector behind Elon Musk's Tesla and Chinese firm BYD…Under the plan, Hyundai will create 80,000 jobs in South Korea and build three new EV factories, with the aim of increasing annual EV production in the country to 1.51 million units by 2030…The group's EV strategy also includes investments in infrastructure, software, battery technology and autonomous driving.

Battery tech firm AESC, which is partnered with BMW, is investing $1.5 billion to expand its EV battery factory in South Carolina…AESC’s latest EV battery manufacturing expenditure follows its initial announcement to build the Florence County factory in December 2022 and its $810 million expansion announcement in December 2023. That’s a pretty significant investment at $3.12 billion…In 2022, AESC announced a multi-year partnership with BMW to supply battery cells for next-gen BMW EVs produced at Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina. AESC’s latest expansion will provide EV battery components for BMW Group’s Mexico Assembly Operations…This is happening because BMW and AESC know there’s a growing demand for EVs in the US. They wouldn’t be doing this otherwise.

Chinese electric-vehicle maker Nio lowered its forecast for first-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, as it grapples with slowing demand and a price war in China…EV demand in Nio's home market China — the world's largest auto market — has been faltering as intense market competition has driven down car prices and consumers tightened spending in a sluggish economy…That has prompted Chinese firms, including Xpeng and BYD, to explore expanding into overseas markets such as Europe where they can sell vehicles at higher prices than their saturated home market…Nio expects to deliver around 30,000 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, compared with its prior forecast of 31,000 to 33,000. The company had delivered 31,041 vehicles in the corresponding period a year earlier.