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needs to build more refineries to reduce lithium dependence","japan-needs-to-build-more-refineries-to-reduce-lithium-dependence","article/japan-needs-to-build-more-refineries-to-reduce-lithium-dependence",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":566,"content":576,"excerpt":710,"featured":50,"reporter":711,"_editable":715,"component":716,"seo_title":553,"categories":717,"visibility":731,"author_company":49,"featured_image":732,"seo_description":710,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":738,"formattedArticleDate":739},"5abdc74f-4b15-4a90-91c5-3b6ea4c8b0c4","2023-09-29 00:00",[560,563],{"slug":561,"name":562},"battery-gigafactories-asia-pacific-2023","Battery Gigafactories Asia Pacific 2023",{"slug":564,"name":565},"japan","Japan",[567],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":570},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":571,"image":572,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":573},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":577,"content":578},"doc",[579,596,601,606,611,616,621,628,641,646,659,672,677,682,687,700,705],{"type":580,"attrs":581,"content":582},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[583,586,594],{"text":584,"type":585},"Japan will remain dependent on lithium ","text",{"text":587,"type":585,"marks":588},"supply",[589],{"type":590,"attrs":591},"link",{"href":592,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium/","url",{"text":595,"type":585}," from China for cathode production unless the country deploys capital to develop its domestic lithium refining industry. ",{"type":580,"attrs":597,"content":598},{"textAlign":49},[599],{"text":600,"type":585},"Giving a keynote presentation at Benchmark’s Battery Gigafactories Asia Pacific 2023, Cameron Perks, principal analyst at Benchmark, said Japan currently needs about 50,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) to produce cathodes. That number is expected to double in the next ten years, as Japan remains a top nickel cobalt aluminium (NCM) cathode producer.",{"type":580,"attrs":602,"content":603},{"textAlign":49},[604],{"text":605,"type":585},"“It’s not huge compared to the amount of material that the market needs, but there are a number of risks involved with future supply,” Perks said. “The issues going forward will be supply availability, being exposed to Chinese spot prices and technical grade material coming from South America.” ",{"type":580,"attrs":607,"content":608},{"textAlign":49},[609],{"text":610,"type":585},"Currently, Japan is quite dependent on output from Chile and Argentina. Perks pointed out that Japan will hinge on brine expansion plans in those countries, where not all supply will be battery grade.",{"type":580,"attrs":612,"content":613},{"textAlign":49},[614],{"text":615,"type":585},"“Unless there are lithium carbonate technical grade purification plants being built here in Japan, more and more lithium will come from China, even if it is from brine, especially while a lot of these brine producers are ramping up,” Perks said.",{"type":580,"attrs":617,"content":618},{"textAlign":49},[619],{"text":620,"type":585},"Allkem’s Naraha lithium hydroxide plant in Japan, which is under construction, is expected to be producing about 9,000 tonnes LCE by 2030, using brine from Argentina.",{"type":622,"attrs":623,"content":625},"heading",{"level":624,"textAlign":49},4,[626],{"text":627,"type":585},"Battery cell production",{"type":580,"attrs":629,"content":630},{"textAlign":49},[631,633,639],{"text":632,"type":585},"Perks also said Japan currently has a ",{"text":634,"type":585,"marks":635},"leading role in lithium ion battery technology",[636],{"type":590,"attrs":637},{"href":638,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/japans-role-in-developing-the-lithium-ion-battery-industry",{"text":640,"type":585}," but it’s not a main cell production player. ",{"type":580,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":585},"“China is absolutely tearing away from everyone else in terms of battery cell production and, interestingly, there’s a risk that Japan’s impressive historical role in lithium ion will be supplanted by others like the US and Europe,” Perks said. ",{"type":580,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649,651,657],{"text":650,"type":585},"While ",{"text":652,"type":585,"marks":653},"Japan has set a target",[654],{"type":590,"attrs":655},{"href":656,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/can-japan-hit-its-2030-target-of-20-battery-market-share",{"text":658,"type":585}," to develop 150 GWh of domestic battery cell production by the end of the decade, Benchmark forecasts the country will produce about 30 GWh of battery cells in 2023. ",{"type":580,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662,664,670],{"text":663,"type":585},"China is expected to account for 915 GWh of battery cell supply this year — that’s about 80 percent of the world’s output, according to ",{"text":665,"type":585,"marks":666},"Benchmark’s Lithium ion Batteries Forecast",[667],{"type":590,"attrs":668},{"href":669,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium-ion-batteries/reports/",{"text":671,"type":585},". ",{"type":580,"attrs":673,"content":674},{"textAlign":49},[675],{"text":676,"type":585},"“Japan is producing a lot of cathode and exporting its technology and know-how to other places where cells are made,” Perks said. ",{"type":580,"attrs":678,"content":679},{"textAlign":49},[680],{"text":681,"type":585},"Financing will be needed to develop more capacity, with Benchmark estimating, in a base case scenario, that about $51 billion will be needed to plug the global lithium market balance gap expected by 2030. ",{"type":580,"attrs":683,"content":684},{"textAlign":49},[685],{"text":686,"type":585},"“Japan has a number of very important large auto manufacturers with large research and development budgets, which was in the order of $20 billion in 2022 alone,” Perks said. “There should be enough money floating around, but it is not just about throwing money at the problem, it is also about environmental, social and governance, cost and viability.”",{"type":580,"attrs":688,"content":689},{"textAlign":49},[690,692,698],{"text":691,"type":585},"During a presentation at the Tokyo event, Hidetaka Nishimura, deputy director general at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan, ",{"text":693,"type":585,"marks":694},"called for more collaboration globally",[695],{"type":590,"attrs":696},{"href":697,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":593},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/us-japan-call-for-global-collaboration-to-meet-growing-battery-demand",{"text":699,"type":585}," to support the energy transition. ",{"type":580,"attrs":701,"content":702},{"textAlign":49},[703],{"text":704,"type":585},"“Given that the battery supply chain is huge and unfortunately Japan is a resource-poor country we recognise the importance of strengthening global cooperation to secure battery metals, upstream resources, and to make the supply chain more resilient,” he said. ",{"type":580,"attrs":706,"content":707},{"textAlign":49},[708],{"text":709,"type":585},"Last week, Japan signed a battery supply chain agreement with Canada, which could give the Asian country access to the key battery raw materials it needs. It could also potentially give access to US subsidies for its automakers. ","Japan will remain dependent on lithium supply from China for cathode production unless the country deploys capital to develop its domestic lithium refining industry. Giving a keynote presentation at Benchmark’s Battery Gigafactories Asia Pacific 2023, Cameron Perks, principal analyst at Benchmark, said Japan currently needs about 50,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) to produce […]",[712],{"slug":568,"name":569,"content":713},{"job_title":571,"image":714,"bio":574,"linkedin":575},{"filename":573},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"5abdc74f-4b15-4a90-91c5-3b6ea4c8b0c4\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[718,721,723,726,729],{"slug":719,"name":720},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":722,"name":299},"cathode",{"slug":724,"name":725},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":727,"name":728},"geopolitics","Geopolitics",{"slug":730,"name":8},"lithium","private",{"id":49,"alt":733,"name":734,"focus":734,"title":733,"source":734,"filename":735,"copyright":734,"fieldtype":736,"meta_data":737,"is_external_url":51},"Cameron Perks, principal analyst at Benchmark, giving a presentation.","","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/ab2b4c8185/bm-cameron-perks-1305773e81f3.jpg","asset",{"alt":733,"title":733,"source":734,"copyright":734},"Sep 29, 2023","29th September 2023",[],[],1792773909941]