In recent years, the market price of lithium, cobalt, nickel and other metal materials fluctuates as global technology companies and auto giants compete to acquire key materials for battery production. According to a survey conducted by the investigation agency WoodMackenzie for battery raw material service companies, the prices of lithium, cobalt and nickel all rose at the beginning of 2018. And data shows that these metal prices will fluctuate in the next five years, which will play an increasingly important role in the cost structure of emerging batteries. Analysts expect that lithium demand will increase by about 42% from 2017 to 2020, which will increase the scale of material supply. However, analysts pointed out that there is still a time lag between expanding the scale of production of raw materials and producing battery materials. “As a result, we expect the price of lithium metal to remain at a high level in 2018,†the report said. “But, by 2019 and beyond, its supply will start to exceed demand, and the price level will drop.†The report predicts that lithium prices will steadily decline, while supply will increase, and the compound annual growth rate of lithium carbonate from 2017 to 2022 will be -18%. The cobalt price fluctuations are not the same. The price of cobalt has more than doubled from 2016 to 2017, and the price in February of this year has increased by 133% year-on-year. Even though the report pointed out that even if the rise in this period is relatively short-lived, it will reach US$70,548 per ton in 2018, then decline in the following two years, remain stable in 2021, and rise again in 2022. WoodMac predicts that battery production will account for 49% of cobalt demand in 2017 and will increase by 61% by 2022. In 2017, the demand for cobalt batteries was only 6,000 tons less than the total amount of cobalt demand in 2017. After 2019, there will be a significant surplus of cobalt metal and will drive its price down. However, due to regulatory uncertainty in the Republic of Congo, there is a high probability of short-term price increases. Congo last year supplied 64% of global cobalt production. In February of this year, the Republic of Congo’s Parliament passed a mining reform called Farnin. The reform bill will increase the use of cobalt, copper and gold and impose a 50% tax on “excess profitsâ€. This will exceed the amount in the survey report. 25% of the feasibility study forecast. This means that the Republic of Congo will receive more mining revenue, but this may lead to uncertainty in the downstream industry or higher prices. "Although the new regulations still need to be signed by the President of the Congo and become law, the new reform measures emphasize the inherent risks of the cobalt industry's dependence on the supply of the Republic of Congo," the report said. The battery industry is also consuming nickel metal, although the market share is much smaller than that of cobalt. WoodMac expects that the development of electric vehicles and energy storage from 2016 to 2020 will lead to more than double the demand for nickel. Metal nickel reached a new high of US$14,125 per ton on February 15. After rising prices this year, analysts predict a decline in 2019, followed by a steady increase in annual prices, making 2022 prices almost double that of 2017. Demand from the battery industry has prompted some Western producers to shift their business to metal materials and sulfates used in battery manufacturing. Research shows that the electric vehicle and energy storage market has promoted the development of the metal market. With the world's major automakers committed to expanding the scale of electric vehicle production, this influence will only increase. Volkswagen has announced that it has allocated US$25 billion for the development and production of battery equipment because the company is trying to increase the number of electric vehicle production plants from three to sixteen by the end of 2022. The company plans to purchase batteries from LG, Samsung, and Chinese battery maker Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. Volkswagen will have to compete with Volvo and Renault-Nissan's major electric car makers, not to mention Tesla. The WoodMac analysis also pointed out the potential supply bottlenecks, especially the dependence of the majority of cobalt production on the Congo market. Rising prices of metal materials in the future may stop the falling battery prices that the battery industry has become accustomed to. This risk has driven the innovation of lithium-ion replacement chemicals and different energy storage technologies as well as new business strategies. According to Bloomberg News, Apple, which is relying on cobalt to make iPhone batteries, has begun negotiations with miners about signing long-term contracts for cobalt mines. Apple does not want its iconic products to suffer from the cobalt shortage caused by the development of electric vehicles. (China Energy Storage Network exclusive compilation, reproduced please indicate the source) Wifi 5 Ceiling Wireless Ap,Wifi Access Point Poe Ceiling Mount,Ceiling Mount Wifi Access Point Home,Access Point Enclosure Ceiling Shenzhen MovingComm Technology Co., Ltd. , https://www.movingcommtech.com