Figure 16 Critical minerals market developments

Figure 16.A. Price indexes for selected critical minerals

Figure 16.B. Electric vehicle sales
Figure 16.C. Use of critical minerals in renewable energy technology
Figure 16.A. Price indexes for selected critical minerals

Index, 100 = 2019 avg. Index, 100 = 20

Rare earth metals
500
Molybdenum
400 Cobalt
300 Lithium (RHS)

200
100
0
Oct-18
Mar-19
Jul-19
Nov-19
Mar-20
Jul-20
Nov-20
Mar-21
Jul-21

Mar-22
Jul-22
Nov-22
Nov-21

Sources: Bloomberg
Note: Prices refer to the following: Cobalt = China Shanghai Changjiang Cobalt; Lithium = C
Carbonate 99% Battery Grade; Molybdenum = China Molybdenum Trioxide 51% Industrial
Rare Earth Metals = China Shanghai Rare Earth Carbonate REO >= 45%. Monthly data. La
is March 2023. Seven of the 17 critical minerals are not currently monitored by the World B
Commodity Markets Group.
 cal minerals
Lithium (R
x, 100 = 2019 avg. Oct-18 117.5259
Nov-18 119.5153
Dec-18 118.3298
Jan-19 119.6966

1,000 Feb-19 121.5914

Mar-19 115.9475
Apr-19 115.5566
May-19 114.4274
800 Jun-19 112.4702
Jul-19 104.4192
Aug-19 86.33146
600 Sep-19 82.57198
Oct-19 81.8706
Nov-19 77.71783

400 Dec-19 67.39917

Jan-20 66.37912
Feb-20 67.9721
Mar-20 67.1064
200 Apr-20 63.08148
May-20 59.10467
Jun-20 57.17687
0 Jul-20 59.10871
Aug-20 58.98776
Mar-22
Jul-22
Nov-22
Mar-23
Nov-21

Sep-20 60.14064
Oct-20 63.9164
Nov-20 70.43518
Dec-20 88.28624
Jan-21 125.6872
Feb-21 141.3308
Mar-21 152.3085
Apr-21 150.4733
May-21 151.0836
gjiang Cobalt; Lithium = China Lithium
m Trioxide 51% Industrial Grade; and Jun-21 147.2056
>= 45%. Monthly data. Last observation Jul-21 156.3018
monitored by the World Bank Aug-21 205.9761
Sep-21 313.9906
Oct-21 325.5336
Nov-21 346.3044
Dec-21 494.4399
Jan-22 677.081
Feb-22 852.1632
Mar-22 883.631
Apr-22 777.6098
May-22 782.6981
Jun-22 807.8625
Jul-22 807.7335
Aug-22 819.9447
Sep-22 824.6315
Oct-22 895.3969
Nov-22 942.3404
Dec-22 817.2477
Jan-23 787.0945
Feb-23 585.0479
Mar-23 343.3567
Rare earthMolybden Cobalt
100.3271 159.2584
100.5706 112.3518 136.3228
101.7573 100.1433 127.0357
104.4656 93.90696 124.5192
104.5569 101.331 113.7542
104.283 104.8383 100.4252
103.9178 103.9485 101.9406
83.74287 103.5277 90.02472
110.795 104.1048 85.80059
110.5211 109.7902 84.13292
99.93153 108.7291 94.18642
100.0228 107.2956 108.2643
95.12362 90.98051 102.1503
90.86345 83.08729 95.84911
91.77634 88.45989 98.95229
92.7501 91.32677 103.7381
91.38075 88.39287 98.18835
90.22442 76.56422 90.76868
90.46786 82.75965 85.53596
89.55496 83.37026 90.2544
90.43743 73.24683 85.86301
92.71967 69.92572 99.85853
94.42374 75.56639 101.706
92.99353 79.49811 101.4638
94.36288 81.78417 101.4688
105.2263 86.58711 101.319
106.0479 90.17629 106.7115
107.6911 92.67085 126.2193
145.7284 105.2553 155.0342
143.9635 99.99814 136.3902
145.698 103.5054 133.7938
138.547 112.2215 138.345
136.6603 134.9256 140.3447
236.6527 138.9765 146.0468
230.3233 150.4105 142.5891
228.9844 140.3839 147.5871
273.1685 134.2666 159.0137
329.8897 117.5829 178.4766
327.9422 142.3423 194.4244
363.5451 147.4952 198.666
426.8391 152.8417 217.6321
374.3781 164.4321 221.694
315.4051 165.0762 208.5323
348.9083 150.1164 171.0045
342.9441 155.0571 142.3544
295.5344 139.6653 123.2635
225.2415 146.4341 129.7095
232.21 157.492 122.7941
220.3728 171.253 120.6396
229.3191 187.4118 119.3289
254.089 235.311 118.6998
271.86 305.341 111.2402
241.3085 287.745 111.5897
187.3868 166.9453 108.3068
Figure 16.B. Electric vehicle sales
Millions
4,000,000 China
Europe
3,000,000 United States
Rest of the world
2,000,000

1,000,000

0
2015

2016

2017

2019
2018

2020

Sources: International
Note: Electric vehicles Energy Agency cars, vans, buses, and trucks with powertrains
(EVs) encompass
including battery electric vehicles (BEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). Europe
comprises EU27, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Annual data. Las
observation is 2021.
 China Europe
2015 330800 197424
2016 477505.1 222714
2017 776980 311469
2018 1294000 407266
2019 1202000 596199
2020 1276520 1405172
2021 3484860 2348956

rld
2019

2021
2020

ucks with powertrains

vehicles (PHEV). Europe
ngdom. Annual data. Last
United StaRest of the world
114000 41356
160000 53566
194000 111669
360000 209876
325000 132071
294000 187428
630000 428084
Figure 16.C. Use of critical minerals in renewable energy tec
Carbon capture
and storage
Energy Storage
Technology

Geothermal

Hydro
Concentrated
solar power
Solar
photovoltaic
Wind

Iron
Indium

Lithium

Zinc
Lead

Silver

Titanium
Cobalt

Nickel
Aluminum

Copper
Chromium

Vanadium
Graphite

Neodymium
Molybdenum
Manganese
Critical Mineral

Sources: World Bank (2020).

Note: Critical minerals shown correspond to the critical minerals’ designation for use in
renewable technologies identified in World Bank (2020b).
wable energy technology
Mineral Wind
Aluminum 1
Chromium 1
Cobalt 0
Copper 1
Graphite 0
Indium 0
Iron 1
Lead 1
Lithium 0
Manganes 1
Molybden 1
Neodymiu 1
Nickel 1
Silver 0
Titanium 0
Vanadium 0
esignation for use in Zinc 1
Solar_photovoltaic Concentrated_solar_powerHydro Geothermal
1 0 0 0
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0
1 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
0 0 0 0
0 0 1 1
1 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
1 0 1 1
1 1 0 0
0 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
1 0 1 0
Energy_Storage Carbon_capture_and_storage
1 0
1 1
1 1
1 1
1 0
0 0
1 0
1 0
1 0
1 1
0 1
0 0
1 1
0 0
0 0
1 0
1 0