Geopolitical tensions around Taiwan, the fallout from the war in Ukraine and China’s zero-Covid policy and property sector crisis continue to unsettle commodity markets, testing the resilience of solar, wind, battery storage and utility supply chains.

A recessionary outlook for the global economy, sanctions on Russia and the follow-on impacts as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic continue to reverberate through the mining industry.

Whilst net-zero ambitions and shifts from conventional fuels have increased the demand outlook for many metals markets, the mining industry must work to keep CAPEX and OPEX costs down to profit from production.

Despite a slump in the cost of some items in the year-to-date, our high-case scenario in EU Mining items for Q1 2023 indicates that volatility remains across key items, such as blasting equipment, steel pipes mining material handling equipment.