Investment in battery manufacturing plants and electric vehicle factories continues to boom around the world, but for now the market for lithium shows no signs of emerging from a four-year slump. Prices for the raw material used in lithium-ion batteries fell again at the end of last year, according to the December price assessment released […]
Prices of aluminium and copper are showing signs of recovery in the last three months as trade tensions in international markets have eased to an extent leading to an improvement in sentiment, rating agency ICRA said in its research report. Consequently, while aluminium prices at the spot market have increased by 4 per cent in […]
Rising geopolitical tensions and pressures to the global economy will continue to evoke volatility in commodity markets, heightening risks to metal demand and prices, Fitch Solutions’ newest report on key Asia mining themes finds. The Asian mining landscape will continue to benefit from the availability of high-grade resources and low labour costs, although key countries will […]
In 2019, agri commodity markets were impacted by several unprecedented incidents and uncommonly severe conditions, says RaboBank’s 12 month outlook report. As macro, political, and climate risks continue to make their mark on agri commodity markets in 2020, producers, processors, traders, and retailers need to prepare, the report warns. China’s hog herd declined significantly, as […]
Chinese thermal coal prices are likely to come under pressure in 2020 from rising domestic output, while India makes further gains in its quest to surpass China as the world’s largest thermal coal importer. India’s increased demand for imports, which is due largely to domestic production and transportation challenges, will likely come at a time […]
China lifted its annual rare earth output quotas on Friday by 10 per cent to record-high levels for 2019, potentially easing fears the world’s dominant producer of the group of 17 prized minerals will restrict supply. Beijing in late May raised the prospect of weaponising its control of rare earths, used in everything from consumer […]
India has decided to not join the 16-nation Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal on grounds that its key concerns over the agreement have not been addressed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in Bangkok that the current form of the RCEP Agreement “does not fully reflect the basic spirit and the agreed guiding principles” […]
Rio Tinto Group, a British-Australian behemoth in the global mining industry, has signed its first yuan-denominated purchase contract as China looks to internationalize its currency and move more Chinese steel overseas, Yicai Global reported London- and Melbourne-based Rio agreed to buy 170,000 tonnes of iron ore from Shanxi Gaoyi Steel, Shanghai Securities News reported today. […]
The US government is stepping up efforts to break China’s dominance over supplies of critical minerals for a range of modern life’s aspects, including electric vehicles (EVs), green technologies and military applications by launching a plan to boost lithium, cobalt and rare earths mining across the globe. The Energy Resource Governance Initiative (ERGI) initiative, announced in […]
The Australian government thinks there are opportunities to boost coal exports to India. The Indian government wants to cut imports by half by boosting domestic output. Fact: both could turn out to be correct. The Australian government’s Office of the Chief Economist released a report in which it said the outlook for India’s coal imports […]
