Philippines wants to leverage on its critical minerals
The Philippines wants to go beyond mineral extraction and be further involved in the value adding part, as it secured its first electric motorcycle manufacturing deal with US firm Zero Motorcycles.
"As I said, we would like to go beyond just the phase of just extracting the minerals and to actually go vertically integrate that entire activity all the way down to actual battery production," said Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in Washington on 3 May.
"The increased deployment of clean technologies comes with an increase in demand for inputs of crucial energy resource minerals, including cobalt, nickel, which just happens to be very abundant in the Philippines," he added. He highlighted the country's willingness to work with the US with its Inflation Reduction Act by helping with the sourcing and processing of battery materials.
Marcos' visit to Washington during 1-4 May led to the country bringing home at least $1.3bn worth of investment pledges across different sectors, according to its presidential communications office, with US solar firm Maxeon Solar Technologies eyeing investment of $900mn in solar energy in the country.
Zero Motorcycles signed a deal with Integrated Micro-Electronics, a subsidiary of the Philippines' conglomerate Ayala, to set up the country's first electric motorcycle manufacturing site.
The deal will lead to a site in central Philippines' Laguna province that will be an assembly line to manufacture, pack and ship around 18,000 units/yr of electric motorcycles. Mass production is expected to be by July 2023.
The country released a national electric vehicle (EV) roadmap in April. The roadmap highlighted that a key driver for EV adoptions in the country will be the lower upfront cost of tricycle and motorcycle EVs when compared with four-wheeled EVs, as they are more accessible to consumers and are the primary transportation choices across the country.
The roadmap also suggested solutions like encouraging investments in high-pressure acid leaching to transform the laterite ores for battery production by limiting raw nickel ore exports and providing sufficient manufacturing incentives, which echo previous proposals.
The Philippines was the largest nickel ore exporter to China during January-March. It delivered 3.48mn t of nickel ore to China during the period, up by 66pc from a year earlier, accounting for 69pc of China's total imports.
The Philippines, being the world's second-largest nickel supplier, is increasingly playing a greater role in the critical minerals market in Asia-Pacific. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement is to take effect for the Philippines on 2 June, which will lead to the cutting of various tariffs, including those on metals and metal derivatives.
Related news posts
India’s Attero to expand lithium-ion recycling capacity
India’s Attero to expand lithium-ion recycling capacity
Mumbai, 11 July (Argus) — India's Attero Recycling plans to increase its lithium-ion (Li-ion) recycling capacity to 200,000 t/yr in the next 2½ years, and to 300,000 t/yr in the next five years. The firm currently can recycle 15,000 t/yr of Li-ion batteries and about 144,000 t/yr of electronic waste (e-waste) at its plant in Roorkee city, Uttarakhand state, Attero's chief executive Nitin Gupta told Argus . The firm plans to further expand Li-ion battery and e-waste recycling capacity to 300,000 t/yr and 1mn t/yr in the next five years. Attero is currently finalising the location for its 100,000 t/yr Li-ion recycling plant in Andhra Pradesh state, which is expected to begin commercial production within the next 14 months. The firm also plans to set up a 100,000 t/yr Li-ion recycling plant in Poland, which is expected to be commissioned in the next 12 months. There is also a plan to establish a 100,000t/yr Li-ion battery recycling plant in the US, once the Indian and Polish plants are commissioned. Attero has 46 global patents on NASA-approved recycling technologies in India. It can extract metals and minerals from all types of end-of-life Li-ion batteries of various chemistries such as nickel-manganese-cobalt, lithium cobalt oxide, lithium-ion manganese oxide, lithium titanate and lithium iron phosphate. The firm's extraction efficiency of pure battery grade cobalt, lithium carbonate, graphite, nickel and manganese dioxide are around 98pc for pure battery grade material, as compared to the global average of 75pc, Gupta said. Most firms are not recycling LFP batteries, as most technologies are focused on extraction of nickel and cobalt, according to Gupta. The firm has secured sourcing agreements that are sufficient for its next two years of consumption, Grupta added. Attero is also considering filing an initial public offering in the Indian market within the next 24-36 months. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
BP to expand EV charging to US malls
BP to expand EV charging to US malls
Houston, 10 July (Argus) — BP has agreed to install its electric vehicle (EV) charging gigahubs at 75 Simon Property Group sites across the US. The deal will create more than 900 charging bays that can "support nearly every make and model of EVs on the market today" at Simon properties, which are primarily shopping malls. The first gigahubs, which will be installed by the company's BP Pulse subsidiary, are expected to open in early 2026. BP Pulse's EV charging network includes 39,000 bays across the US, UK, Germany and China, and the company aims to surpass 100,000 globally by 2030. BP plans to invest $1bn into domestic EV charging infrastructure by the end of the decade, as well. The agreement with Simon follows BP's 2023 deal with car rental agency Hertz to add gigahubs and charging bays in "high-demand locations" of major cities in the US. By Alex Nicoll Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US adds 206,000 jobs in June, jobless rate ticks up
US adds 206,000 jobs in June, jobless rate ticks up
Houston, 5 July (Argus) — The US added a solid 206,000 jobs in June while job gains in the prior two months were revised downward and wage gains cooled. The job gains, which beat analyst estimates, followed downwardly revised 218,000 job gains in May and 108,000 gains in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said today, for a combined downward revision of 111,000 for the prior two months. The US generated a monthly average of 220,000 jobs in the 12 months through May. Economists expected gains of about 190,000 in June, according to a survey by Trading Economics. The jobless rate ticked up to 4.1pc, the highest in more than two years, from 4pc. Still, the unemployment rate remains near five-decade lows. Construction added 27,000 jobs, while manufacturing lost 8,000 jobs. Gains also occurred in government, health care and social assistance. Average hourly earnings rose by 3.9pc from a year earlier, down from a 4.1pc annual gain in the prior month and the lowest in three years. Futures markets after the jobs report indicated a 71.8pc chance the Fed will cut its target rate by a quarter point from a 23-year high in September, up from 68.4pc odds on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve, after its last policy meeting in mid-June, had penciled in one likely quarter point rate cut was likely this year, paring that from a likely three cuts shown in March. Still, it also said it needs to see evidence that inflation is "sustainably" slowing towards its 2pc target before beginning to cut rates from 23-year highs. By Bob Willis Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Japan’s domestic EV sales fall in 1H 2024
Japan’s domestic EV sales fall in 1H 2024
Tokyo, 4 July (Argus) — Japanese sales of domestic passenger electric vehicles (EVs) in the first half of the year fell sharply from the same period a year earlier. Sales totalled 29,282 units during January-June, down by 39pc on the year, according to preliminary data from industry group the Automobile Dealers Association, the Japan Light Motor Vehicle and Motorcycle Association and the Japan Automobile Importers Association (JAIA). The share of EVs in the total passenger vehicles sales was 1.6pc, down by 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier. The sharp fall is mostly attributed to a decline in light passenger EV sales, which fell by 45pc on the year to 13,540 units. This is largely because the sales of Nissan's Sakura, one of the top-selling models in the market with a share of around 90pc, fell to 12,082 units, down by 38pc from a year earlier. Light cars are defined as vehicles with a length, height and width of less than 3.4m, 2m and 1.48m respectively and an engine capacity below 0.66 litres, which is the Japanese standard. Sales of ordinary passenger EVs also fell to 15,742 units, down by 31pc from a year earlier. The rate of decline was lower than that of light passenger EVs because of imported passenger EVs, for which sales increased by 16pc on the year to 10,689 units. Foreign EVs account for around 68pc of ordinary passenger EV sales. Foreign brands are dominating Japan's EV market by "offering wider variety of models than domestic manufacturers," according to a representative of JAIA that spoke to Argus . BMW in June introduced its MINI's EV model to the Japanese market, but the sales volume was undisclosed. Domestic EV sales in June totalled 5,010 units, down by 37pc, marking eight consecutive months of year-on-year declines. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Business intelligence reports
Get concise, trustworthy and unbiased analysis of the latest trends and developments in oil and energy markets. These reports are specially created for decision makers who don’t have time to track markets day-by-day, minute-by-minute.
Learn more