Global cathode and precursor short-term outlook May 2023

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 over the month. We expect annual growth rates to 2027 for PNCM and PNCA to be 11% and 2% respectively. 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.