China develops new rare earth military and applications
China has been open about its intentions to develop downstream applications for its rare earth sector. To this end, China’s achievements in the electric vehicle sector have been well documented. Sales are expected to reach 2% of the passenger vehicle market by the end of the year, with some reports suggesting that EV’s could reach […]
Rare Earths in Review — Core Consultants — 2017
2017 saw massive development in the rare earth elements market across four levels; namely, policy, prices, supply and end-user markets. With respect to policy, China’s Department of the Raw Materials Industry and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organised the Chinese rare-earth industry into six groups, the last of which was completed earlier […]
Manganese traders struggle to close at higher prices
Manganese stocks at Chinese ports as of the 24th of November increased from the previous month to 2.47m tonnes compared to 2.26m tonnes on the 27th of October. However, if we compare this to the start of the third quarter, we note that overall stocks are a lot tighter. Chinese authorities gave the order in […]
Hard Times for Chrome Traders in October
October was characterised by an increase in both purchases and production owing to a number of positive factors including, higher benchmark price which rose 19c/lb in the fourth quarter, a resurgence in Chinese ferrochrome production, higher surcharges by stainless steel mills and the end of winter tariffs which saw the production rates in South Africa […]
October Rare Earth Price Correction
We cautioned in our October report that whilst the fundamentals of the industry have greatly improved, prices have run hard and we should expect to see some correction in October. This correction was even more pronounced as the Chinese State Reserve Bureau (SRB) did not make any purchases in September and subsequently we have started […]
Lithium Batteries-An Outlook and Summary
On the 23rd of October 2017, Core Consultants presented a paper at the Annual Nickel Institute Conference (INSG) which summarized the current state of the Lithium Ion Battery Market. You can download the full presentation with audio here. The Lithium Ion Battery market is undergoing a revival with billions having been committed over […]
Manganese Alloy Prices Head South as China Curbs Pollution
Core Consultants released its October Manganese Monthly Report. In it we note that while manganese stocks at Chinese ports as of the 19th of October were virtually unchanged from the previous month at 2.26m tonnes compared to 2.27m tonnes, when we compare this to the start of the third quarter, we note that overall stocks […]
Manganese Ore Giants Raise Prices
Manganese stocks at Chinese ports as of the 19th of September stood at 2.27m tonnes compared to 3.13 m tonnes last month. This period of destocking has buoyed ore prices, which are expected to remain high over the next two months as restocking commences. Moreover, steel mills are expected to cut production in October/November as […]
Are Cobalt Prices Sustainable?
Cobalt Market Outlook-Credit Suisse On 6th September 2017, Core Consultants presented to Credit Suisse and their clients. The aim was to determine whether or not the current cobalt prices were sustainable. The presentation describes the cobalt supply chain and identifies current issues. We then went onto consider which producers are adding capacity, and whether this […]
Outlook for Cobalt: Shortages? China? Questions Answered
Core Consultants presented at Metals Events’ Battery Metals Conference in Manchester, June 2017. The Presentation was an overview of cobalt, looking at potential shortages, Chinese consumption, and addressing general investor questions Download Cobalt Presentation