Hong Kong's "South China Morning Post" website reported on July 3 that in the past two years, the price of lithium, a silver-white metal usually extracted from seawater, has risen by more than 300%. The price of cobalt (mainly as a by-product of mining nickel and copper) rose by 129% last year, and the price of nickel rose by 4.6%, setting a new high in two years.

According to the report, China's support for the development of electric vehicles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is the main reason for the rise in prices of these metals.

According to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, electric vehicles accounted for only 2.3% of the 30 million cars produced last year. According to Morgan Lai, an analyst at JP Morgan Chase, the ratio may increase five-fold to 12% by 2025.

According to reports, most electric vehicle batteries are based on lithium, as well as a mixture of cobalt, manganese, nickel and graphite, which are in great demand.
According to reports, JP Morgan Chase's forecast shows that global demand for lithium may increase by 20% by 2025.

JPMorgan Chase said it expects nickel demand to grow 11 times between 2017 and 2025.

According to the report, analysts pointed out that, similarly, the demand for copper and primary aluminum is expected to increase in the next few years.

The report believes that, on the other hand, rising raw material prices are increasingly becoming a concern for Chinese battery manufacturers. China Ningde Times New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. warned in its prospectus for its initial public offering that the company's business may be affected by soaring key commodity prices and the shortage of materials needed.

According to reports, Michael Ferguson, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings, said: "One of the main concerns of the market is that the normal demand for electric vehicles will slow down due to the shortage of lithium and cobalt." The increase in volume will benefit mining companies mining cobalt, lithium or copper.