According to Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun, since sodium-ion batteries are considered one of the next generation energy storage batteries, a group of 14 universities, companies and research institutions in Japan announced that they will join forces to promote the large-scale production and commercial application of sodium-ion batteries. Since sodium-ion batteries do not use rare metals and Japan has limited access to key mineral resources, the domestic market has high hopes for the development of this mass production technology. According to Tokyo University of Science, Sodium-ion battery technology has now been proven at the laboratory level. This project is expected to push this technology into practical application. The group will invest a budget of approximately 760 million yen to develop mass production technology for stationary energy storage batteries used by energy companies. It is said that 1 out of every 4 new cars currently sold globally is an electric car. This trend is driving demand for energy storage batteries. Competition among countries in the research and development of energy storage batteries to reduce costs, extend cruising range and improve safety is heating up. In Japan, all-solid-state lithium-ion batteries with excellent safety and energy density are developed. It is considered to be approaching the commercial application stage. In contrast, Japan has not yet achieved mass production of sodium-ion batteries. However, it is said that sodium-ion batteries can share production lines with ternary lithium-ion batteries due to the similar mass production processes of the two batteries. Therefore, once mass production technology is established, the popularity of sodium-ion batteries is likely to advance rapidly.

Japanese company Taisei and industrial robot manufacturer Fanuc have jointly developed an automated warehouse equipped with artificial intelligence technology. The warehouse is equipped with AI-driven industrial robots and can store twice the amount of goods as a traditional warehouse. The new warehouse uses robots to automatically load and unload goods of different sizes, and utilizes physical AI technology developed by Fanuc to achieve more flexible logistics operations. The warehouse is expected to help alleviate the chronic driver shortage faced by the logistics industry. In the future, more space-saving warehouses will be built in areas closer to consumers, such as cities. It is expected to reduce the pressure of "last mile delivery". In a traditional warehouse, merchandise is typically placed on pallets and then loaded and unloaded onto shelves by humans or equipment. When robots participate in this process, it is usually necessary to use single-category pallets, that is, only the same product is placed on one pallet to reduce the difficulty of robot operation. However, for mixed loading pallets containing a variety of commodities, manual handling was usually required in the past due to the different sizes and shapes of the commodities. The new system developed this time uses AI technology to accurately identify the size and shape of different commodities in mixed pallets, and controls the robot to accurately grab the target commodities.

“It’s clear that the Strait of Hormuz and the situation around it are going to become more complex,” said Zayden Alkinani, founding director of the Arab Perspectives Institute. “I think Iran is trying to strengthen its sovereignty around the strait — to gain more that it didn’t have before the war. Sovereignty. The United States not only hopes to curb this expansion, but also seeks to easily penetrate its influence further into the Strait of Hormuz." He added that both the United States and Iran have ignored the economic and trade situation around the Strait of Hormuz and instead focused on their respective military influence. “The United States intends to ensure that Any challenge to its presence in the Strait of Hormuz will eventually evolve into a direct security threat to Iran. This is a clear military strategy: to ensure that the conflict or dispute is not limited to the narrow area of ​​​​the Strait of Hormuz, but also puts the Iranian state itself at direct security risk. "

IEA monthly report: OPEC+ daily production is expected to increase by 5.3 million barrels in 2027.

HSI closed up 144.94 points, or 0.6%, at 24175.12 points on July 10 (Friday);Hong Kong's Hang Seng Technology Index closed down 9.9 points, or 0.21%, at 4721.66 points on July 10 (Friday); The state-owned enterprise index closed up 41.9 points, or 0.52%, at 8039.19 points on July 10 (Friday);The red chip index closed at 3851.04 points, up 26.93 points, or 0.7%, on July 10 (Friday).

Escalating hostilities between the United States and Iran are clouding the outlook and could disrupt the International Energy Agency's (IEA) forecast of an oversupplied oil market in 2027.