WEMO 2025 (complet) - Flipbook - Page 61
02 Critical resources
Volatile market prices in the short term are sending mixed signals, discouraging long-term investment
FIGURE 1
Copper and Nickel Prices (USD per ton) from 2008 to 2024
Source: IEA, Critical Mineral Outlook, 2024; USGS, 2025
Global resource prices remain volatile due to
shifting supply-demand dynamics, rapid
electri昀椀cation, and competition of usages especially a昀昀ecting critical materials like lithium,
rare earths, copper, nickel, and steel.
This volatility is largely driven by external factors port congestion and logistics delays, freight costs,
geopolitical tensions, energy prices, regulatory
barriers, and complex tax and tari昀昀 systems - rather
than structural production issues.
In response, market players are turning to
speculative storage, hedging, and active trading in
futures and options.
However, current price levels do not support
investment in new production capacity, which caps
output and raises the risk of future shortages in both
components and 昀椀nished goods -ultimately
threatening long-term supply security.
