This Morning in Metals: Ford China reports 73.3% sales jump

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Tobias Arhelger/Adobe Stock

This morning in metals news: Ford China announced its sales rose by 73.3% year over year; meanwhile, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Short-Term Energy Outlook; and, lastly, Rio Tinto announced it had achieved battery-grade lithium at its Boron plant.
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Ford China tallies fourth consecutive quarterly sales jump

Ford China reported its Q1 sales jumped 73.3% year over year.
The jump marked its fourth consecutive year-over-year quarterly sales increase.
Meanwhile, Ford China sales increased 30.3% year over year in Q4 2020.

EIA releases Short-Term Energy Outlook

The EIA forecast US retail gasoline prices this summer will average $2.78 per gallon.
Meanwhile, last summer’s average checked in at $2.07 per gallon.
“EIA expects U.S. gasoline consumption to rise in response to growing levels of GDP and employment,” the EIA said. “In addition, as COVID-19 vaccines are more widely distributed, we expect that driving will increase, causing gasoline consumption to rise.”
Furthermore, the EIA forecast US gasoline consumption will average 8.6 million barrels per day in 2021, up from 8.0 million barrels per day in 2020.
In addition, in its latest outlook, the EIA used projections of 5.6% GDP growth this year and 4.2% growth in 2022.

Rio Tinto achieves battery-grade lithium

Lastly, Rio Tinto announced it had achieved battery-grade lithium at its Boron plant in California.
“The demonstration plant is the next step in scaling up a breakthrough lithium production process developed at Boron, to recover the critical mineral and extract additional value out of waste piles from over 90 years of mining at the operation.
“An initial small-scale trial in 2019 successfully proved the process of roasting and leaching waste rock to recover high grades of lithium.”
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