Morning Bites (part 1)

🇨🇳Total car sales in China inched down 1% YoY in January (vs. +11% YoY in December)

📌China’s new ICE car sales declined 14% YoY in January, vs. the -3% YoY in December. Meanwhile, the sales of local catalyst-containing cars (ICE+PHEV) were only down 7% YoY in January. In our view, this might be a one-off decline in ICE+PHEV sales, given their stable YoY growth seen in recent months. We note that the Chinese automotive sector accounts for 20% and 17% of global Pd and Pt demand, respectively

📌New EV sales in China jumped 29% YoY in January, vs. +33% YoY in December. Specifically, BEV sales (61% of total EV registrations) grew 29% YoY, while PHEVs also added 30% YoY. Given the gradual shift to hybrids in China (40% of total EV sales in 2024 vs. 30% in 2023), this might add some support to PGM market fundamentals in the medium term, we believe

#cars #EV #nickel #lithium #cobalt
https://metals-wire.com/news-reports