Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025

Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025: Recently, the Global Critical Minerals Outlook 2025 highlighted that despite rising demand, critical mineral prices fell in 2024 due to a supply surge from China, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

• Price Trends: Rapid supply growth, especially in battery metals—has driven prices down.

၀ Production of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and graphite has doubled compared to late 2010s levels.

၀ Prices have returned to pre-pandemic levels, reversing 2021–22 spikes.

၀ Lithium: Down 80% since 2023 (after 8x rise in 2021–22).

၀ Graphite, cobalt, nickel: Prices fell by 10–20% in 2024.

• Strong Demand from Clean Energy: Demand continues to surge despite falling prices.

၀ Lithium: Demand up 30% in 2024 (vs. 10% average in 2010s).

၀ Nickel, cobalt, graphite, rare earths: 6–8% growth.

၀ Driven by:

-  EVs and battery storage

- Renewable energy and grid infrastructure

- In China, grid expansion is now the largest driver of copper demand.

၀ 85% of battery metal demand growth is energy-related.

• The report warns that even short-term disruptions could have serious global consequences. A sustained supply shock may increase battery pack prices by 40–50%, which could:

၀ Raise consumer prices and reduce industrial competitiveness

၀ Widen manufacturing cost gaps between regions, especially disadvantaging producers outside China

၀ Undermine global efforts to diversify battery supply chains if cost disparities persist.