Category: Metals and minerals
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Carbon, Not Cost, Is Becoming the New Trade Currency
For most of modern industrial history, global trade in metals and heavy manufacturing was governed by a familiar equation: price competitiveness, scale, and logistics efficiency. Carbon emissions were treated as an externality—an unfortunate by-product of growth, rarely embedded into trade rules themselves. That era is now decisively ending. Carbon intensity…
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Steel, Cement & Core Infrastructure: Volumes Are No Longer Enough
For much of modern economic history, steel and cement have been reliable barometers of growth. From post-war reconstruction in Europe to China’s infrastructure super-cycle of the 2000s, rising tonnage signaled expanding cities, factories, and transport networks. Even today, global infrastructure demand remains broadly steady, anchored by public spending, urbanisation in…
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India’s Capital Goods and Advanced Manufacturing Shift
India’s manufacturing landscape is entering a new phase—one defined not merely by capacity expansion, but by strategic autonomy, technology depth, and geopolitical positioning. This transition is not sudden; it is the cumulative outcome of policy experimentation, supply-chain disruptions, and the global race to localize critical industrial capabilities. Historically, India relied…
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Semiconductor Supply Crunch and the Auto Industry: A Historical Lens, Critical Analysis and Future Outlook
The global automotive industry is once again under siege from a semiconductor supply shock—this time triggered not by pandemic logistics but by geopolitics. Major car-makers such as Nissan Motor Corporation and Mercedes‑Benz Group are publicly warning of deepening chip shortages, as a regulatory dispute involving the Dutch government, Chinese ownership…
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Europe’s Rare-Earth Reckoning — The New Frontline of Industrial Sovereignty
Historical Perspective: From Post-War Recovery to Resource Dependency Europe’s post-war economic rise was built on manufacturing ingenuity and access to affordable raw materials — largely imported from its colonies or global partners. Over decades, deindustrialization and environmental policies reduced domestic mining, leaving the continent deeply dependent on external suppliers. Now,…
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Rare Earths and Real Power: How China’s Export Curbs Expose U.S. Strategic Vulnerabilities
The Geopolitical Weight of Invisible Minerals In the realm of global trade, few commodities are as obscure yet as essential as rare earth elements (REEs). These 17 minerals — vital for electronics, defense, and green technologies — form the backbone of modern economies. China’s recent move to regulate exports of…
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Trade Tensions and the Future of UK Steel: A Test of Post-Brexit Realities
The European Union is considering a significant escalation in its trade policy towards the United Kingdom’s steel industry. Reports suggest that Brussels may halve the duty-free quota for UK steel imports and double tariffs from 25% to 50%. This would not just be a technical adjustment of trade rules—it could…
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Pakistan’s $500 Million Minerals Gamble: A New Chapter in Geopolitics and Resource Economics
In September 2025, Pakistan secured what is being touted as its most significant foreign investment in the critical minerals sector: a $500 million memorandum of understanding with Missouri-based US Strategic Metals. Partnering with Pakistan’s Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), the deal envisions the establishment of a poly-metallic refinery to extract and…
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Export Restrictions and the Rare Earth Supply Chain Crisis
Global supply chains are once again under stress, this time due to China’s tightening grip on rare earth exports. Since April 2025, Beijing has imposed licensing requirements on seven key rare earth elements, including dysprosium and terbium—minerals indispensable for the production of electric vehicle motors, advanced defense equipment, and renewable…
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Five Strategic Policy Pillars for India’s Rare-Earth Self-Reliance
Rare-earth minerals are the backbone of the clean energy revolution, essential for technologies ranging from wind turbines and solar panels to batteries for electric vehicles (EVs). For India, a country that aims to position itself as both a green energy hub and a manufacturing powerhouse, securing reliable access to these…
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