2024-07-11 05:02

IBAT aims to ramp up lithium production to 5,000 metric tons/year within four weeks Portable plant design allows for scalable and relocatable production IBAT's method recycles over 98% of water, addressing high water use in lithium industry HOUSTON, July 11 (Reuters) - (This July 11 story has been officially corrected to fix the companies' production run rate in a bullet and in paragraphs 1-3 and corrects royalty information in paragraph 16) International Battery Metals (IBAT.CD) New Tab, opens new tab said this week it has launched its version of a novel type of lithium filtration technology, a move that could help usher in cheaper and faster supplies of the electric-vehicle battery metal. At a site in rural Utah controlled by privately-held US Magnesium, IBAT said it has started its own direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology and aims to ramp up production to an annual rate of nearly 5,000 metric tons within four weeks. Both companies declined to provide the current production rate. The company, which developed its DLE plant to be portable, has been competing with Standard Lithium (SLI.V) New Tab, opens new tab, SLB (SLB.N) New Tab, opens new tab, Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) New Tab, opens new tab, Eramet (ERMT.PA) New Tab, opens new tab and others to be first to commercial production, a goal sought by industry investors, analysts and customers. IBAT said it considers this week's launch to be the start of commercial DLE production. Industry consultants generally consider that mark reached at annual production levels of 5,000 metric tons or greater and at consistent quality levels. The DLE industry is expected to grow within a decade into an industry with $10 billion in annual revenue by transforming the speed and efficiency of lithium production for EV manufacturers and others, analysts said, much the way that fracking and horizontal drilling helped boost U.S. oil production. Lithium has historically been produced with evaporation ponds, which are used to extract the metal from those brines, or open-pit mines, which are used to remove it from hard rock deposits. The intensive water use and physical footprint of those methods, as well as their long development and production times, sparked the hunt for a third option. While DLE technologies vary, they are comparable to common household water softeners and aim to extract about 90% or more of the lithium from brines, compared to about 50% using ponds. IBAT's step coincides with a more than 80% drop in lithium prices in the past year, fuelling layoffs at industry leader Albemarle (ALB.N) New Tab, opens new tab, DLE upstart Lake Resources (LKE.AX) New Tab, opens new tab and others. Still, IBAT plans to build more of its plants and market them for use across the globe. STRATEGY IBAT's strategy has focused on building relatively small plants. While rivals have tried for more than a decade to commercialize DLE, their plans involved production volumes of 20,000 tons per year or more at permanent facilities often in remote regions where labor and supplies are difficult to procure. Houston-based IBAT designed and built a 450-foot-long (137 meter) portable plant in Louisiana that it moved in 13 parts to the US Magnesium site, which draws brine from the Great Salt Lake. IBAT processes brines from a US Magnesium tailings waste facility. Additional plants can be added and stacked like Lego bricks to boost production in 5,000-ton-per-year increments. It takes 18 months to build an IBAT plant and reach production, the company said. Each plant, which is smaller than three acres (1.2 hectares), is designed to move in the future to a new deposit for reuse, saving construction costs. IBAT's lithium chloride plant costs $50 million to $60 million each, depending on several factors. US Magnesium uses IBAT's lithium chloride to make lithium carbonate for potential sale to battery makers. Paris-based Eramet spent nearly $900 million on its own DLE project that aims to come online this year in Argentina with lithium carbonate production after more than a decade of development. Ron Thayer, president of US Magnesium, said he chose IBAT's process because of its portability as well as the type of absorption material that IBAT's process uses to filter lithium from brine, which Burba developed. US Magnesium plans to begin paying IBAT a royalty once it starts selling the project's lithium. "I consider (IBAT) a commercial lithium producer," Thayer said. Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) New Tab, opens new tab, which is developing a lithium project in Arkansas, has considered using IBAT's technology, Reuters has reported. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/lithium-industry-first-ibat-commercializes-new-extraction-technology-2024-07-11/

2024-07-11 04:56

SINGAPORE/TOKYO, July 11 (Reuters) - The yen has been sliding to fresh 38-year lows day by day, with market participants on alert for Japanese authorities to step in again, as they did in March, to defend the currency. But a few factors might explain their restraint. THE BOJ IS SLOWLY RAISING RATES Massive interest rate differentials between the U.S. and Japan have been weighing the yen down, putting monetary policy at the centre of the currency's woes. With the Federal Reserve signalling it is close to cutting rates and the Bank of Japan intent on slowly raising its rates from near zero this year, the wide 5 percentage point spread between dollar and yen interest rates should shrink eventually, helping arrest if not reverse the yen's depreciation. Any respite for the yen could be limited, however, as rate hikes in Japan are expected to be small and delivered at a gradual pace. The BOJ wants to support economic growth underpinned by solid gains in wages and sustainable inflation. THE CARRY TRADE Slow monetary tightening will help cement the yen's popularity for 'carry' trades - where a currency with low interest rates is borrowed to invest in a currency with higher yields. Yen-funded carry trades in U.S. Treasuries, for example, yield nearly 6% - a mighty incentive for market participants that is hard for Japan to counter. Net short speculative positions in yen are at a 17-year high of 184,223 contracts, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows. An inverted U.S. yield curve has also fuelled dollar investments into Japanese bonds and that carry trade could also unwind when the Fed cuts rates. KING DOLLAR The flipside of the yen's weakness is the dollar's stubborn strength on the back of a robust U.S. economy. Nary a week goes by without the release of blockbuster figures for U.S. jobs or inflation casting a long shadow over markets. The ever-present risk of a surprise sending the dollar higher is an uncomfortable environment for currency intervention. MUTED POLITICAL IMPERATIVE Although the weak yen remains deeply unpopular with the Japanese public - featuring regularly as a topic on TV news shows and newspaper front pages - the pain it induces may be blunted somewhat by record highs for local stocks and the fastest wage growth in 33 years. It's also harder to find the sort of anger that in late 2022 triggered Japan's first dollar-selling intervention since 1998. Instead, it has been largely replaced with a grudging acceptance that a super soft currency is part of the country's current reality. Additionally, Tokyo wouldn't make another massive foray into the market without getting the nod from Washington first. This is particularly true after getting put back on the Treasury's watchlist for potential currency manipulators. That said, the domestic impetus to act may rise as the ruling party's internal leadership election approaches in September. MIGHT NOT BE WORTH IT While markets know Japan has the firepower to move again - foreign reserves stand at a whopping $1.23 trillion - two interventions since September including the $62 billion-odd outlay for the latest March round of dollar selling - have had little impact. Finance ministry officials have been repeating warnings that they stand ready to act and, for now, the jawboning has kept yen movements relatively small, slow and steady. (This story has been corrected to fix the direction of Fed policy to 'cuts,' instead of 'raises,' in paragraph 9) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/why-has-japan-not-intervened-yet-support-yen-2024-07-11/

2024-07-11 04:33

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Tom Westbrook No doubt there are some sore heads around the City today after Ollie Watkins' stoppage-time strike sent England into Sunday's European Championship final against Spain. But the job of winning England's first major trophy on foreign soil is not done and nor, in markets, is the campaign against inflation where much depends on the U.S. number due later in the day. Stock markets have marched to record highs anyway, led by big tech gains in anticipation of rate cuts in the autumn. On an annual basis U.S. June headline CPI is expected to slow to 3.1%, while core CPI is seen steady month-on-month at 0.2%, according to economists polled by Reuters. As it stands, Fed funds futures are showing a 73% chance that the central bank eases at its September meeting, according to CME FedWatch. Inflation meeting economists' forecasts will likely cement those expectations. But rate-cut bets have swung wildly this year, and a surprise spike could further jolt projections, rattle asset prices and put the yen right back on the ropes. The yen was stuck on the weak side of 161 per dollar in Asia on Thursday and markets in Tokyo and Taipei notched record highs, as they did in New York on Wednesday. The Nasdaq (.IXIC) New Tab, opens new tab is up more than 5% for the month already. The Bank of Korea held rates, as expected, but dropped a warning about inflation risks from its statement in an echo of a similar shift in language a day earlier in New Zealand. Sterling , meanwhile, made a four-month high as Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill did not tee up the August rate cut that some had expected. Key developments that could influence markets on Thursday: Economics: Final German CPI, UK monthly GDP, U.S. CPI Earnings: Delta Airlines, PepsiCo Speeches: Fed's Musalem and Bostic Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/global-markets-view-europe-2024-07-11/

2024-07-11 04:27

BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) - Almost two-thirds of big wind and solar plants under construction globally are in China, where surging renewable capacity has squeezed coal's generation share to new lows, research released on Thursday showed. China is building 339 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale wind and solar, or 64% of the global total, a report from U.S.-based think tank Global Energy Monitor (GEM) found. That is more than eight times the project pipeline of the second-place U.S., with 40 GW. China's pace puts the global goal to triple renewable capacity by the end of 2030 "well within reach" even without more hydropower, the report's authors said, calling on China to lift its targets in climate pledges to the U.N. next year. Beijing is also on track to meet its own 2030 goal to install 1,200 GW of wind and solar by this month - six years early - Sydney-based think tank Climate Energy Finance said last week. Absorbing the boom in renewables remains a challenge for China's coal-centred grid and faster development of transmission lines is needed, GEM research analyst Aiqun Yu said. Still, the new capacity pushed renewable generation to record highs recently, according to a separate analysis published by Carbon Brief on Thursday. China generated 53% of its electricity from coal in May, a record low, while a record 44% came from non-fossil fuel sources, indicating its carbon emissions may have peaked last year if the trend continues, according to the analysis conducted by Lauri Myllyvirta, senior fellow at Asia Society Policy Institute. Coal's share was down from 60% in May 2023. Solar rose to 12% of power generation in May and wind to 11% as China added large amounts of new capacity. Hydropower at 15%, nuclear with 5% and biomass at 2% made up the rest of the non-fossil fuel power. The increased renewable generation led carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector, which make up some 40% of China's overall emissions, to fall 3.6% in May. "If current rapid wind and solar deployment continues, then China's CO2 output is likely to continue falling, making 2023 the peak year for the country's emissions," Myllyvirta wrote. His analysis found solar power generation soared by a record 78% year-on-year in May to 94 terrawatt hours (TWh). Data from China's National Bureau of Statistics showed a 29% increase, but that excluded rooftop solar panels and therefore missed about half of the electricity from solar. The new analysis calculated wind and solar output using power generating capacity data and utilisation figures from the China Electricity Council, an industry association. Wind power generation rose 5% on the year to 83 TWh as a 21% increase in capacity was offset by lower utilisation because of variations in wind conditions. Hydropower generation rose 39% from last year, when hydropower was hit by a drought. Gas-fired generation fell 16%, and power generation from coal fell 3.7%, even as total electricity demand increased 7.2% year-on-year. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/china-coal-generation-share-record-low-may-renewables-hit-new-highs-analysis-2024-07-11/

2024-07-11 04:07

Governor Rhee says looking closely at financial stability risks BOK unanimously holds interest rate steady at 3.50%, as expected Two of 7 members on BOK board open to rate cuts in next 3 months SEOUL, July 11 (Reuters) - South Korea's central bank said it was time to prepare for a pivot to interest rate cuts but more evidence is needed to strengthen confidence that inflation is returning to its 2% target, after it left a key policy rate unchanged on Thursday. The Bank of Korea "will examine the timing of a rate cut," it said in a policy statement after leaving the benchmark interest rate (KROCRT=ECI) New Tab, opens new tab steady at 3.50% for the 12th straight meeting, as widely expected by all 40 economists surveyed by Reuters. "Given the underlying uncertainties regarding the future path of inflation, however, it is necessary to further assess whether inflation will continue its slowing trend." While Thursday's decision to leave rates unchanged was unanimous, two of the central bank's seven board members said they may support a reduction in the policy rate within the next three months, according to Governor Rhee Chang-yong. Rhee, speaking at a post-policy news conference, sounded a note of caution on growing expectations for interest rate cuts. "In terms of price stability alone, the mood is right to discuss interest rate cuts," Rhee said, but "market expectations (for rate cuts) does look excessive in some ways." Expectations the BOK could cut interest rates in the coming months gained momentum after headline consumer price readings for June released last week showed inflation slowed to an 11-month low of 2.4%, close to its target of 2%. In a crucial change, the BOK dropped the phrase from its May statement that "upside risks to inflation forecasts have increased." South Korea's policy-sensitive three-year treasury bond futures fell 0.18 point to 105.230 as of 0321 GMT. Asia's fourth-largest economy is confronting sticky inflation and policymakers are waiting for sufficient evidence that prices are cooling to begin lowering borrowing costs from restrictive levels. Policymakers are worried about a re-acceleration in morgtage loan growth as South Korea has the developed world's highest household debt-to-GDP ratio. Analysts say a wobbly won , down about 7% this year against the dollar, can also potentially push back the timetable for interest rate relief, even as political pressure grows for early rate cuts. "Looks like board members are now confident about achieving price stability, but assessed more attention should be paid to financial stability, given the bank's dual mandate: price stability and financial stability," said Ahn Jae-kyun, an analyst at Shinhan Securities. "We might see dissenters in the bank's next policy review (in August), it will be a way to show that policymakers thoroughly examined risks involved with rate cuts," said Ahn, who expects the BOK to deliver a cut in the fourth quarter. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/bank-korea-holds-rates-seen-weighing-when-cut-rates-2024-07-11/

2024-07-11 00:49

LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices were stable on Thursday with the Brent benchmark holding above $85 a barrel, as investors balanced a bleaker demand growth view from the International Energy Agency (IEA) with a indications of growing U.S. consumption. Brent futures were up by 1 cent, or 0.01% to $85.09 a barrel by 1207 GMT. Meanwhile, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slipped by 9 cents, or 0.11%, to $82.01. In its latest monthly oil market report, the IEA saw global demand growth at its lowest in more than a year at 710,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the second quarter, mainly reflecting a contraction in China's consumption. The IEA's global crude demand growth forecast for 2024 was kept largely unchanged at 970,000 bpd, while its 2025 forecast was cut by 50,000 bpd to 980,000 bpd. OPEC in its monthly report on Wednesday kept its forecasts for world oil demand growth for this year and next unchanged at 2.25 million and 1.85 million bpd, respectively. Both contracts rose on Wednesday, breaking a three-day losing streak, after a report from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed a drop in U.S. crude and gasoline stocks. "The bounce back is largely due to the continued drawdowns in U.S. inventories as reported by the EIA," Suvro Sarkar, in the energy sector team at DBS Bank, told Reuters. U.S. crude inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels to 445.1 million barrels in the week ended July 5, far exceeding the 1.3 million-barrel draw expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. Gasoline stocks fell by 2 million barrels to 229.7 million barrels, much bigger than the 600,000-barrel draw analysts expected during the U.S. Fourth of July holiday week. Meanwhile, U.S. Consumer Price Index inflation data is expected at 1230 GMT, which could offer fresh clues on the health of demand. A Producer Price Index inflation report is expected on Friday. On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell lifted expectations for the central bank to ease policy in September, as markets currently expect. However, Powell was unwilling to conclude inflation was moving sustainably down to the bank's 2% target, reiterating that a rate-cut decision would be reliant on data. Easing interest rates could be positive for oil because cheaper credit could increase consumer demand generally. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-prices-tick-up-crude-gasoline-inventories-ease-2024-07-11/