Fastmarkets rounds up six key takeaways from its first Battery Materials Europe conference in Amsterdam, which took place on September 26-27.
Battery boom warrants evolution of cobalt pricing mechanisms Cobalt hydroxide and cobalt sulfate account for a growing portion of the cobalt market, which reflects growth - and forecasts for future growth - in EV demand. While cobalt metal prices have traditionally dictated prices along the cobalt supply chain, consumption from the battery sector accounts for a growing proportion of cobalt end use, which may bring about a change."If we say the cobalt market is about 120,000 tonnes, maybe 25% of that is cobalt metal; but when we talk about the cobalt market as a whole, in fact it's more about cobalt salts," Sam Wang, product manager at Manatrade, told delegates during a panel discussion. "Metal prices cannot account for future demand [for cobalt] from the battery space. Cobalt hydroxide prices can reflect battery demand in the future," Forrest Deng, general manager of China Molybdenum's...