Treasure hunt under time pressure
The international race for the commodities required for a successful energy transition has begun. A 170-page study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and conducted by the auditing firm Ernst & Young shows that Germany urgently needs to catch up.
The result is sobering: while other nations are taking targeted measures to secure themselves by launching extraction projects and entering into new trade partnerships, Germany’s dependence is growing ever greater, particularly in the field of technology metals and rare earths. Germany trades with only two of the total five producers of technology metals and rare earths, and there is no domestic mining. Long-overdue EU trade agreements with Latin American states, Chile, and Canada are still awaiting ratification.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Economics Minister Robert Habeck therefore went on a raw materials hunt. Scholz traveled to Vietnam to negotiate a possible climate pact with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. At the same time, Habeck spoke with his counterparts from the Philippines and Pakistan to negotiate a future economic agreement. Two politicians, one goal: more independence from China!
In order for the energy transition to succeed, we need 46 different commodities in Europe. We currently import 39 of them. This is concerning, especially since the World Bank expects a thirty-fold increase in the demand for individual metals and minerals over the next 30 years.
Some experts are therefore already calling rare earths the “gold of the climate transition.” Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), summarizes the situation in clear terms: “When it comes to commodities, Germany is vulnerable to blackmail.” We agree with him, because without technology metals and rare earths, we could not only miss climate targets, but health and defense technology are also dependent on these commodities.
The Green State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics, Franziska Brantner, advocates for promoting the state stockpiling of production-critical commodities throughout the EU. We believe that this would be a major mistake. Such massive external interventions would almost certainly lead to massive price increases. Furthermore, China in particular could react sensitively, for example with punitive tariffs and, as has already happened in the past, with supply halts.
In light of such a fatal decision and the almost certainly following volatile situation, investors have only one way out: they should invest in technology metals and rare earths, and do so now! This way, you are prepared for all eventualities and also enjoy extremely lucrative return opportunities.
Private storage companies, such as Noble BC, offer private investors access to an exclusive market including tax-free storage, tax-free sales, and the securing of investment goods according to the latest technical security standards.
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