Daisy Jennings-Gray

Beginning in 2021, battery raw materials saw huge price gains affecting lithium, nickel, cobalt and natural graphite. By 2024, these increases had been reversed – though prices are again on the rise. Benchmark principal price analyst Adam Megginson explains that “battery raw material prices soared across the 2021–2023 period as demand for battery cells from the electric vehicle (EV) market met inelastic raw material supply”. This, he adds, triggered “frenzied overbuying and an outsized supply response, combined with moderating EV sales growth”, in turn leading to “a slump in prices across the board, erasing all raw material gains in just 12 months”.

Price movements in battery raw material markets since June last year look very familiar to those seen during the 2021/22 cycle. Lithium, cobalt and nickel prices are once again breaking higher after prolonged downturns, and the pace, sequencing and momentum closely resemble late 2021, just before the energy storage sector erupted into one of the strongest bull runs in its history. Although the absolute prices are lower than during the 2021/22 rally, the patterns are similar.

The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) has set a 2026 nickel ore mining quota (RKAB) of 260–270 million wmt. This is notably lower than the approved 2025 quota of 379 million wmt, which was initially announced at just under 300 million wmt before additional permits were granted later in the year. The reduced RKAB quota reflects government efforts to manage supply growth, support nickel prices, and conserve domestic resources. Expectations of lower quotas and their potential impact on Indonesian supply have been a key driver of the recent rally in nickel prices. LME nickel prices rose from just above $14,000/t in mid‑December to more than $17,000/t on 11 February 2026.

Benchmark Mineral Intelligence has launched new CIF North America and CIF Europe 314Ah lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell prices for energy storage applications. The CIF grades assess prices of Chinese LFP cells including the cost of internal transfer, insurance, and freight (CIF).

Battery materials markets have entered a new phase. What were once niche industrial inputs are now strategic commodities underpinning electric vehicles, energy storage, and national industrial policy. Demand has scaled quickly, supply chains have globalised, and investment has accelerated. Price discovery, however, has struggled to keep pace. Fragmented regional pricing, inconsistent methodologies, and sentiment‑driven signals have made it harder to understand what prices are really saying. In many cases, the noise has grown louder just as the need for clarity has increased. Today, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) launches its most significant pricing expansion to date. The launch introduces more than 2,500 proprietary price assessments, covering every major battery raw material, chemistry, and producing region globally.