Price sentiment staying unwaveringly robust at the moment

摘要

Although Chinese auto data has remained very weak so far this year, withpassenger vehicle sales down 14.1% in January-February, the latest datafrom Fastmarkets’ Battery Raw Materials Market Tracker, shows that salesof new-energy vehicles (NEVs) continue to soar. They totaled 53,000 unitsin February, up 53.6% year on year, while 59,000 NEVs were produced(+50.9%). Sales of battery-only electric vehicles (BEV) rose 69.4% to 40,000and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) rose 18.6% to 13,000. The slower up-take ofPHEVs implies the government subsidy changes last year are encouragingpeople to buy BEVs over PHEVs, which is good for demand for battery rawmaterials, including nickel.Over January-February, China produced 150,000 NEVs, up by 83.5% y/y,while total sales rose to 148,000 units (+98.9%).