Umicore, BASF pull back on battery materials

Adjusting to slower growth in the battery industry, Umicore is delaying investment into new battery materials plants. The firm will also record a $1.7 billion write-off of the value of its existing battery plants, which the company expects to be underutilized over the next few years. Umicore has stopped its spending on a cathode materials plant that it started building in Ontario last year, and says it will also delay construction of a European battery recycling plant. The loss on existing plants is mostly due to lower demand from customers in China. Umicore overestimated the near-term growth of the battery industry, but the company says it still expects more significant demand for batteries toward the end of the decade. Several other firms are also slowing new investments in battery materials. BASF recently backed away from plans to build a nickel refinery in Indonesia and a battery recycling plant in Spain. And in July, Albemarle announced it would idle a lithium processing plant in Australia and pause construction on an expansion to that site. Northvolt is also reviewing the pace of its battery investments.