GreenergyDaily

Jul. 10, 2024

1. Two of the world's biggest solar manufacturers lost more than $1 billion in the first half as a massive glut in the Chinese market continued to hurt the sector, which is vital to combat climate change. Longi Green Energy, until recently the world's biggest solar firm, said in a preliminary results filing late on Tuesday that a "mismatch" of supply and demand has led to a significant drop in prices for its major products, resulting in no revenue increase even as sales volumes rose. Its fellow Chinese company Tongwei also blamed "persisting" low costs across the supply chain in its statement.

2. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who is in charge of Saudi Arabia's economic cooperation affairs with China, in Beijing on Tuesday. He called on both sides to deepen cooperation on energy, trade, investment and finance, expand cooperation in emerging areas such as clean energy and high technology, and push for greater development of China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic partnership.

3. A top Kazakh media delegation recently visited Geely HQ. Kazakhstan is crucial to Geely's global strategy, with the market favoring the brand. Geely consistently ranks among the top 10 global brands locally, leading Central Asia's auto market. 

4. Cambodia has registered a total of 1,614 electric vehicles (EVs) as of June 2024, said a news release from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport on Tuesday. The three most popular EV brands in the Southeast Asian country are China's BYD, Japan's Toyota and Tesla, the news release said, adding that the kingdom had recorded 658 BYD, 261 Toyota and 186 Tesla EVs.

5. China's lithium carbonate remains in oversupply, leading to continued price pressure, which in turn is putting downward pressure on power battery cell prices, said market research firm TrendForce. As the oversupply situation is difficult to resolve in the short term, the price of lithium carbonate in China fell to a new low for the year, from more than RMB 100,000 ($13,750) per ton last month to around RMB 90,000, TrendForce said in a report released on July 8.

6. Türkiye has recently exempted Chinese automobile manufacturers with investment incentive certificates from an additional 40% tax, Türkiye Today reported. Last month, the country decided to impose an additional 40% tax on vehicles produced in China. But now with a presidential decision published in the country's official gazette, the import of Chinese-origin automobiles with an investment incentive certificate will be exempted from the tax, according to the report.

7. German premium carmaker BMW on Wednesday said its second-quarter sales fell by 1.3% year-on-year to 618,826 vehicles. In its key market China, sales were 4.7% lower at 188,495 vehicles. In BMW's home market Germany, sales dropped by 11.5% to 68,351 cars, while in the United States, they were up 1.7%, rising to 97,135 vehicles. Sales of battery-electric vehicles jumped by 22.2% to 107,933 autos in the April-June period.

8. China's exports likely grew at the fastest pace in fifteen months in June, as manufacturers front-load shipments in anticipation of tariffs from a growing number of the country's major export markets. Trade data on Friday is expected to show exports grew 8.0% year-on-year by value, according to the median forecast of 31 economists in a Reuters poll, up from the 7.6% increase in May and the best pace since a 10.9% gain in March last year.

9. Saudi Arabia raised a total of $12.35 billion from selling more shares in Aramco, after increasing the offering in the world's most valuable oil company, a document seen by Reuters showed. The kingdom raised an additional $1 billion after exercising a so-called greenshoe option, according to the document, which allows banks to place more stock when there is demand from investors.

10. China's auto production and sales hit 13.891 mln units and 14.047 mln units in H1 2024, respectively, with new energy vehicle production growing 30.1% YoY to 4.929 mln units and sales increasing 35.2% YoY to 4.944 mln units in the same period: latest data, Wednesday.