Some key battery metals such as nickel, cobalt, molybdenum and lead are already well established on the LME. We've introduced new futures contracts to provide further hedging and trading opportunities for battery materials.
Until now the lithium futures contracts available — in London, Chicago, Guangzhou and Singapore — have been for processed forms of lithium such as lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, which are key ingredients in electric vehicle batteries and for industrial processing.
Most lithium processing takes place in China, and prices for downstream chemicals such as lithium hydroxide are often correlated to spodumene rock prices. “We know for sure that battery metals will be one of the critical minerals of the future, and underlying demand will go up,” said Jin Hennig, global head of metals at CME Group.
IEA analysis based on data from Bloomberg and Bloomberg New Energy Finance Lithium-Ion Price Survey (2023). “Battery pack price” refers to the volume-weighted average pack price of lithium-ion batteries over all sectors. Price of selected battery materials and lithium-ion batteries, 2015-2024 - Chart and data by the International Energy Agency.
Officially launched in 1920, our lead contract has been the natural place for the lead industry to manage their price risk for the last century. Long-used as the main power store in lead-acid batteries for internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, lead still has a role to play for both EVs and the energy storage sectors.
More recently, nickel demand has increased for use in lithium-ion batteries, and as some battery chemistries trend toward a greater quantity of nickel versus other battery materials, the need is likely to grow further still.