Popular Mineral Resource--- Cobalt and Lithium

With the development of new-energy car industry, cobalt and lithium have become the popular rare metal resources in the current market. According to Japanese media’s reports, a series of vehicle industry policy launched by China has become the turning point of intensifying the global resources scramble. The demand for rare metal will increase rapidly in the future.  

In recent years, China has introduced a lot of policies about the subsidy for electric vehicles users and manufacturers.in 2015, China has surpassed America to become the world’s largest electric vehicles market. The head of Resource Development Division in Toyota Tsusho Corporation said that Chinese companies are sweeping overseas resources with strong capital.

In 2013, China resource development titan, Tianqi Lithium acquired 51% shares of an Australian resource development company and owned the managerial authority. In May 2018, it acquired 24% shares of Chilean resource development company, which means that Chinese companies have established a foothold in front of the world's top two lithium producers.

In addition, 60% of the world's cobalt is produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. According to Japanese media, Chinese companies such as Huayou Cobalt and China Molybdenum Corporation have led the battle for cobalt and molybdenum. Cobalt is the major raw material for lithium batteries which are the core component of electric vehicles.

Japanese media said that China also proposed the goal of selling 7 million new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, from 2017 to 2025. This ambitious goal and policy that are made to exceed the sales of new cars in Japan throughout the year have boosted battery production and created a situation in which resource development companies race to control cobalt and lithium mining rights around the world.

During the period between 2015 and 2017, global cobalt and lithium prices have risen sharply. Fuji Economic Research predicts that the lithium battery raw material market will continue to expand due to the increased demand for automotive batteries. By 2021, the market size will reach 2.9 trillion yen (about 26 billion US dollars), nearly three times that of 2015.

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