Posted on 24 Nov 2025
The week started with bullish sentiment for lithium prices after Ganfeng's chairman forecast higher demand driven by the energy storage sector, helping balance the market next year. Lithium carbonate futures rose in China, and Liontown's first digital auction confirmed the market is improving.
Rare earths continued to steal the spotlight in the US, with Washington brokering a deal with Saudi state miner Maaden and MP Materials to build a refinery in Saudi Arabia. The joint venture agreement followed the Crown Prince's visit to the US, where he pledged investments of nearly $1 trillion and inked a series of agreements.
These include an MOU between Stellantis and Saudi parties to evaluate the feasibility of a car factory in the kingdom, leveraging the US brand portfolio of the carmaker.
In Europe, the Netherlands government suspended an intervention on Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia, easing tensions with China and risks to a continued supply shortage. The decision follows close discussions with EU and Chinese counterparts, and comes after Beijing authorised Nexperia chips to be exported again. However, the move does not remove the measures implemented by the Dutch Enterprise Chamber, prompting a legal threat from its owner, Wingtech Technology. On a less confrontational front, Chinese state-owned carmaker GAC announced it will localise EV production in Europe through a contract with Magna. Meanwhile, Chinese battery storage system provider HyperStrong unveiled a partnership to deploy 1.6 gigawatt-hours of fixed storage capacity in Germany.
Source:Kallanish
