Patrick Kirby speaks to Dukascopy TV on the state of petrochemicals in the Russian Commonwealth

Global EV sales continue to slow with European sales declining 50% from March. The wider automotive market has also suffered declines in sales causing the global EV penetration rate to improve by 1%. May sees a fall in metal salt prices with the exception of lithium carbonate. Cathode material prices had a slight improvement in the month. Over the longer term, we expect PNCM to grow 11% annually with PNCA having minimal growth. The global supply of NCM Precursors is expected to grow 11% annually as NCA precursor is expected to grow 2% annually to 2027. LFP cathode production is expected to remain dominant over NCM growing annually at 35% and 17% respectively. Other chemistries (NCA, LCO & LMO) are expected to grow between 5 -12% annually. South Korea, Japan, and Europe remain the primary export destinations for Chinese NCM.