On November 14 2025, Malaysia launched the region’s first electric vehicle (EV) battery passport standard, MS 2018 Similar to initiatives under the European DDP for battery industry, MS 2818 will serve as a digital record of the EV battery lifecycle, from production to disposal. It is intended to support transparency, sustainability, and traceability across the entire EV supply chain.

This week, the rare earth market outside China showed a divergent pattern of “cerium up, the rest down.” Driven by price increases in China and rising ocean freight rates, cerium oxide FOB and CIF prices rose by $55/mt and $60/mt, respectively, while FOB offers for mainstream magnetic material raw materials such as praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium were generally lowered by $3-19.5/kg due to lower prices in China and tight supply caused by export controls. Although limited trading volumes supported premiums in markets outside China, expectations of an industrial slowdown in Europe triggered by the Middle East situation may suppress subsequent demand. On industry developments, Lynas’ Malaysia plant started samarium oxide production ahead of schedule, consolidating its position as the only commercial heavy rare earth separator outside China and advancing its 2030 strategy. In Australia, Terrain discovered high-grade magnetic rare earth ore intervals during drilling at its Western Australia project, highlighting significant resource potential.

[Project Commencement for Annual Disposal of 150,000 Tons of Retired Batteries and Annual Disassembly of 100,000 End-of-Life New Energy Vehicles] According to local media, the first phase of the Chongqing Huanli project located in Dazu District, Chongqing, has recently commenced and is currently under intense construction. The project is invested and constructed by Huanli Technology, a member company of Guangzhou Industrial Investment Group, one of the Fortune Global 500 companies. Upon completion, it is expected to have an annual production line capable of disassembling 100,000 end-of-life new energy vehicles, an annual production line for processing 150,000 tons of retired batteries, a production line for recycling 55,000 tons of battery-grade nickel-cobalt-manganese compounds annually, and a production line for recycling 20,000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate annually.

The Zhoushan Municipal People's Government has issued a notice on promoting large-scale equipment renewal and trade-in of consumer goods. The notice emphasizes the active promotion of the classified utilization and centralized disposal of renewable resources such as end-of-life vehicles, decommissioned photovoltaic modules, discarded household appliances, used batteries, and waste tires.

The People's Government of Zhoushan City, Zhejiang Province issued a notice on printing and distributing several measures for promoting large-scale equipment renewal and replacing old consumer goods with new ones in Zhoushan City. The notice proposed to promote the classified utilization and centralized disposal and utilization of renewable resources such as scrapped automobiles, retired photovoltaic modules, waste home appliances, waste batteries, and waste tires.

Recently, Yantai Get Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. commenced production of its annual comprehensive disposal project for 10,000 mt of aluminum packaging materials, which was invested and constructed in the Yichuan Development Zone. The project primarily produces raw materials for food-grade coated aluminum foil lunch boxes, pharmaceutical aluminum products, and coated aluminum products for alcoholic beverages. This enterprise was introduced to the development zone by Luoyang Longding Aluminum Co., Ltd. Yantai Get Packaging Technology Co., Ltd. is a company specializing in the R&D, production, and sales of various packaging products and solutions. The company invested in the construction of an annual comprehensive disposal project for 10,000 mt of aluminum packaging materials in the eastern park of the development zone, with an estimated output value of 300 million yuan. The project mainly produces raw materials for food-grade coated aluminum foil lunch boxes, pharmaceutical aluminum products, and coated aluminum products for alcoholic beverages. Its sales network covers multiple provinces in China and exports to overseas markets such as Japan and South Korea, Europe, and the United States. In the first month of trial production, the order volume reached 17 million yuan, including 9 million yuan domestically and 8 million yuan internationally, with a delivery quantity of 200 mt.