News

This month we take a look at some political moves by China's largest battery manufacturer CATL, spurred on by recent US legislation. There is also an interesting article around working out who you are actually dealing with in China... a manufacturer... or a trader? Plus of course the obligatory dig at the FART tax! 💨🤣

Big news this month is of course the weakness of our NZD, now affectionately known as the “South Pacific Peso”, against the USD. This is having an immediate impact on the cost of landed goods, and will of course impact everyday goods such as appliances, vehicles, and electronics. Lithium pricing has again risen (not as sharply this time) but it is certainly heading in the wrong direction. EV’s are becoming more and more popular globally, but the Lithium mines simply cannot keep up with demand… It will be interesting to see where the market, and potentially government policy, goes regarding EV’s over the coming years.

An interesting look this month at global energy trends and how this links in with booming Chinese solar panel production levels. There is also some comment about a market “collapse” in memory products, being driven by massive global inventories… who would of seen that coming! Also, of course, a wee nod to our dearly departed Liz… 😔

Ivent reviews the ongoing issues at Ports of Auckland, along with the Chinese zero-COVID policy. A further look at Lithium rounds out a busy report!

Ivent is celebrating it's 15th anniversary this month (yes we will be buying ourselves some crystal glasses...). Hard to believe where all the years have gone... oh wait, that must be the reason for the grey hair and bald spots! This month we take a look at the Ukrainian tech sector (yes, there is one) and also a new COVID lockdown in China. We also keep our eye on the global component leadtime situation and the NZD vs USD exchange rate. Enjoy!

Happy Platinum Jubilee to Liz! Other than paying tribute to the British Royalty, we have a look at what the leadtimes are doing across a range of common components in our June report. Lithium prices have also eased, but is this the start of a steady decline in pricing, or just a brief pause before they head skywards again...? Check out our Market Report now for all of the answers (well at least some answers...!).

This month we take a look at the challenges Europe, and therefore the world, face to keep up with increasing lithium battery demands. EV’s are apparently the way of the future, but this is putting huge pressure on supply chains and causing exponential price increases. It is also very sobering to see lithium mines being built to keep up with this surging demand… instead of oil rigs we now have huge mines across the landscape!

In other news, COVID restrictions in China are finally easing meaning shipping is becoming very slightly easier. It is also very interesting to learn about the level of control being exerted to contain the virus as China continues with its elimination strategy.

A bit more doom and gloom to add into the global supply chain situation unfortunately. The zero-COVID policy in China is causing additional delays and creating a complex web of issues. This ultimately relates back to longer leadtimes, longer shipping times and increasing costs… as if we haven’t had enough of that in the last 12 months! There is also a quick update on the situation with the shipping lines into New Zealand… again not great news. In any case there are the usual memes to enjoy and the tech history section for a little bit of lighter content... Happy Days! 🙂

Happy New Year to all (both the Jan 1^st one and the Feb 1^st one!) from everyone at Ivent. 😊 The team worked through the holiday period this year due to the volume of work, but everyone has managed at least a small break at various times in December and January. Raring to go now and looking at how 2022 has started, it looks to be another challenging year ahead… As we all said way back in 2020… hopefully next year will be better! The February 2022 edition of the Ivent Market Trends Report looks at the NZD taking a hit against our major trading currencies. This being primarily due to the honeymoon effect of pumping money into the economy coming to an end. On a lighter note there are a few pages on manufacturing in China, and of course a selection of memes and our usual what happened “this month in tech history”. Enjoy!

The final report for 2021! MAERSK has made a big announcement on shipping contracts for 2022 which we look at in detail, along with an update on pricing and lead-times during the current supply chain tightness. Finally, we review the solar panel market and why prices have moved upwards for the first time since 2020. From the whole team at Ivent we wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy, freedom-filled New Year.