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Europe","johnson-matthey-exits-battery-materials-business-in-blow-to-europe","article/johnson-matthey-exits-battery-materials-business-in-blow-to-europe",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":556,"content":566,"excerpt":659,"featured":50,"reporter":660,"_editable":664,"component":665,"seo_title":543,"categories":666,"visibility":672,"author_company":49,"featured_image":673,"seo_description":659,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":678,"formattedArticleDate":679},"683ea55b-d4ed-406e-a695-fd0412bf6c03","2021-11-11 00:00",[550,553],{"slug":551,"name":552},"europe","Europe",{"slug":554,"name":555},"johnson-matthey","Johnson Matthey",[557],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":560},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":561,"image":562,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":563},"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":567,"content":568},"doc",[569,576,581,586,601,608,613,626,631,636,641,646,651],{"type":570,"attrs":571,"content":572},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":575},"Johnson Matthey has decided to exit the battery materials business in a blow to Europe’s ambitions to build a homegrown supply chain for electric cars.","text",{"type":570,"attrs":577,"content":578},{"textAlign":49},[579],{"text":580,"type":575},"The UK company said that it had concluded the potential returns from the business would “not be adequate to justify further investment” due to intense competition.",{"type":570,"attrs":582,"content":583},{"textAlign":49},[584],{"text":585,"type":575},"The decision marks a setback to Europe’s attempt to build a homegrown battery supply chain to meet the demand of its largest carmakers such as Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz who are spending billions to build electric cars.",{"type":570,"attrs":587,"content":588},{"textAlign":49},[589,591,599],{"text":590,"type":575},"Johnson Matthey had planned to build a factory in Poland to produce 10,000 tonnes a year of its proprietary ",{"text":592,"type":575,"marks":593},"high nickel low cobalt battery cathode",[594],{"type":595,"attrs":596},"link",{"href":597,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/johnson-matthey-secures-nickel-cobalt-and-lithium-for-growing-european-cathode-pipeline","url",{"text":600,"type":575},". In April, Johnson Matthey had announced plans to build a second cathode in Vaasa, Finland, with a nameplate capacity of 30,000 tonnes.",{"type":602,"attrs":603,"content":605},"heading",{"level":604,"textAlign":49},4,[606],{"text":607,"type":575},"A Low Margin Business",{"type":570,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":575},"Johnson Matthey said last month that its “eLNO” battery material could store 20% more energy than rival nickel-manganese-cobalt (NCM) technologies while also operating safely.",{"type":570,"attrs":614,"content":615},{"textAlign":49},[616,618,624],{"text":617,"type":575},"But increased ",{"text":619,"type":575,"marks":620},"competition from larger rivals",[621],{"type":595,"attrs":622},{"href":623,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":598},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/chinas-cathode-expansions-surge-as-producers-target-1-million-tpa-capacity",{"text":625,"type":575}," had made cathode production a “high volume, commoditised market,” Johnson Matthey said.",{"type":570,"attrs":627,"content":628},{"textAlign":49},[629],{"text":630,"type":575},"“It’s a factor of the squeeze we see on cathode margins,” Caspar Rawles, chief data officer at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, said. “It’s all about scale – it’s a very competitive business and margins are under constant pressure, to be in the game you need to develop huge scale really quickly.”",{"type":570,"attrs":632,"content":633},{"textAlign":49},[634],{"text":635,"type":575},"At 40,000 tonnes a year Johnson Matthey’s forecast European capacity in 2024 would equate to 15% of the continent’s Europe’s electric vehicle battery demand, according to data from Benchmark’s Cathode Market Assessment.",{"type":570,"attrs":637,"content":638},{"textAlign":49},[639],{"text":640,"type":575},"Johnson Matthey’s rivals in Europe include BASF and Belgium’s Umicore. This week Finnish Minerals Group said it was in talks with Beijing Easpring Material Technology to build a plant in Kotka, Finland with the initial capacity of 50,000 tonnes a year.",{"type":570,"attrs":642,"content":643},{"textAlign":49},[644],{"text":645,"type":575},"Johnson Matthey said on Thursday it would now seek to sell “all or parts” of the business, which has net assets of around £340 million and 430 employees.",{"type":570,"attrs":647,"content":648},{"textAlign":49},[649],{"text":650,"type":575},"“While the testing of our eLNO battery materials with customers is going well, the marketplace is rapidly evolving with increasing commoditisation and lower returns,” chief executive Robert MacLeod said. “We have concluded that we will not achieve the returns necessary to justify further investment.”",{"type":570,"attrs":652,"content":653},{"textAlign":49},[654],{"text":655,"type":575,"marks":656},"By Henry Sanderson",[657],{"type":658},"italic","Johnson Matthey has decided to exit the battery materials business in a blow to Europe’s ambitions to build a homegrown supply chain for electric cars. The UK company said that it had concluded the potential returns from the business would “not be adequate to justify further investment” due to intense competition. The decision marks a […]",[661],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":662},{"job_title":561,"image":663,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},{"filename":563},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"683ea55b-d4ed-406e-a695-fd0412bf6c03\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[667,670],{"slug":668,"name":669},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":671,"name":298},"cathode","private",{"id":49,"alt":674,"name":674,"focus":674,"title":674,"source":674,"filename":675,"copyright":674,"fieldtype":676,"meta_data":677,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/62712a1782/bm-daimler-farasis-benchmark.jpg","asset",{"alt":674,"title":674,"source":674,"copyright":674},"Nov 11, 2021","11th November 2021",[],[],1783093146686]