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COVID Lockdowns Scrambling Strategic Metals Sector

by Cobus van Staden
File image of a worker with car batteries at a factory for Xinwangda Electric Vehicle Battery Co. Ltd, which makes lithium batteries for electric cars in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu. STR / AFP

Disruptions caused by COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the Ukraine war and the ongoing crisis at the South African port of Durban are roiling the strategic battery sector, used for e-vehicles. While prices are falling in the short term due to pandemic restrictions, stocks for battery companies show that in the longer term, the sector is heating up due to strategic competition between China and other industrial powers.

Chaos in the Battery Metals Sector:

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