Mining.com reports that battery metals markets are under continued pressure from falling prices and oversupply, with no signs of short-term recovery. Despite stable EV sales, key materials like lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and recycled inputs are suffering from excess inventory, policy uncertainty, and weak investment. Lithium and cobalt have seen sharp price drops, while nickel remains weak due to oversupply from Indonesia and China. Manganese and graphite face ongoing uncertainty, and battery recyclers are hit by low lithium prices and technical challenges. Fastmarkets sees no immediate bullish catalysts for the sector. They write:
Battery metals markets remain under pressure as falling prices and oversupply weigh on producers, with little sign of a near-term rebound, the last analysis from Fastmarkets, a cross-commodity price reporting agency, shows.
Despite ongoing growth in electric vehicle (EV) sales, market fundamentals for lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and recycled materials continue to deteriorate, driven by excess supply, sluggish investment and mounting policy uncertainty, according to the report. […]
Lithium prices have seen the sharpest decline. Spodumene spot prices in China fell 19.1% in May to $612.50 per tonne, down 30% since January. Lithium carbonate prices dropped 10.3% from April to RMB 59,650 per tonne, 20.3% lower than at the start of the year. […]
Cobalt is similarly struggling with excess inventory and policy uncertainty, Fastmarkets says. Despite speculation over potential changes to cobalt hydroxide export rules in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), no formal announcements emerged from industry meetings in Singapore. Prices weakened across all cobalt products in May, even as China’s trade data showed strong flows: imports of cobalt metal surged 60% month-over-month in April, while exports jumped 202% year-over-year. […]
Nickel continues to suffer from oversupply, particularly from Indonesia and China. The LME cash price dropped another 1.6% in May to $15,105 per tonne. While demand has held steady, the market remains flooded. […]
Manganese offered a brief respite. Spot prices for manganese sulphate in China turned higher in late May due to restocking. Still, sentiment remains weak. […]
Graphite faces persistent price weakness and mounting policy risk. While natural graphite remains exempt from US tariffs, synthetic graphite is still subject to a punishing 55% import duty. […]
Battery recycling, particularly hydrometallurgical operations, is also under pressure. Falling lithium prices have pushed black mass refiners closer to breakeven, as complex separation and purification processes struggle to stay profitable. Some recyclers are opting to offload low-grade manganese content at a loss rather than upgrade it to electrochemical quality. Strong demand for feedstock, especially from Asian refiners trying to maintain high utilisation rates, has led to a hot market for limited scrap supply.
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