Morning Bites

🇨🇳Total car sales in China fell 2% YoY in May (vs. the 3% YoY drop in April)

📌Sales of new catalyst-containing (ICE+hybrids) cars in China fell 13% YoY in May (vs. a decrease of 8% YoY in April). We keep our view that the exclusion of EV support from China’s 2026-30 strategic industries plan (as per Reuters), as well as the potentially higher PGM loadings into local autocatalysts after 2026 (due to the upcoming China 7 standard), are likely to bolster Pd/Pt fundamentals. To recap, the Chinese automotive sector accounts for 20% and 17% of global Pd and Pt demand, respectively

📌China’s new EV sales rose 14% YoY in May, vs. the 10% YoY gain in April. Local BEV sales (69% of total EV) rose 23% YoY, while PHEVs slid 1% YoY. The sector has increasingly relied on ⁠overseas shipments (exports rose 69% YoY last month) to offset domestic weakness. Per CnEVpost, the export growth of PHEVs (2.4x YoY) was significantly higher than BEV models (+94% YoY)

#cars #EV #nickel #lithium #cobalt