Some Chinese Tier 1 battery producers have started including purified phosphoric acid (PPA) in their cathode active material (CAM) price negotiation formulae, as supply deficits of the input have led to soaring prices, Benchmark understands. These elevated prices are a result of global tightness in sulphur supply, caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and drone attacks on Russian gas processing plants. The sulphur disruption has particularly impacted wet-process PPA producers which have cut output and delayed the commissioning of new projects. In recent months, wet-process PPA prices have climbed above that of thermal-process PPA which historically commands a higher price as it requires significantly more electricity and higher-grade ore feedstock.

The US government is moving to treat recoverable critical minerals- including end-of-life rare-earth permanent magnets, manufacturing swarf and other waste - as strategic national defence resources. A recent presidential determination gives the Department of Commerce a legal basis to introduce measures that could restrict exports and prioritise domestic recovery. For the rare-earth and magnet supply chain, the US may seek to restrict exports of end-of-life NdFeB magnets, retain magnet-manufacturing scrap and swarf domestically, and limit exports of rare-earth-bearing waste to overseas processors. It could also support US-based magnet dismantling, demagnetisation, separation and rare-earth recovery, improving domestic access to secondary NdPr, Dy and Tb feedstock and creating a more secure supply base for US magnet manufacturing.

New data from Benchmark sheds light on the battery demand from defence applications. While still a fraction of the volume of the global battery industry, ongoing instability across multiple regions has highlighted the impact that battery-dependant applications can have on modern warfare.