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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":740,"relatedVideos":741},112472431803610,"62fdc39a-c6d0-4cb8-beb8-b209365c27ad","Twin power crises hit China’s synthetic graphite producers","twin-power-crises-hit-chinas-synthetic-graphite-producers","article/twin-power-crises-hit-chinas-synthetic-graphite-producers",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":553,"content":563,"excerpt":719,"featured":51,"reporter":720,"_editable":724,"component":725,"seo_title":543,"categories":726,"visibility":732,"author_company":49,"featured_image":733,"seo_description":719,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":738,"formattedArticleDate":739},"488f2119-86ed-4f36-af1e-9efe569db38c","2022-09-07 00:00",[550],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",[554],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":557},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":558,"image":559,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":560},"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":564,"content":565},"doc",[566,573,578,593,598,603,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,643,648,653,658,663,668,673,684,689,694,699,704,709,714],{"type":567,"attrs":568,"content":569},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[570],{"text":571,"type":572},"China’s synthetic graphite production could become more expensive following a summer power crunch in Sichuan province as well as higher electricity prices in Inner Mongolia, highlighting the battery supply chain’s vulnerability to energy costs.","text",{"type":567,"attrs":574,"content":575},{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":572},"This month Inner Mongolia cancelled the preferential power tariff previously enjoyed by graphitisation facilities, a vital step in the production of synthetic graphite anodes. And last month producers in southwest Sichuan province were ordered to shut down production facilities due to a heat-wave and drought.",{"type":567,"attrs":579,"content":580},{"textAlign":49},[581,583,591],{"text":582,"type":572},"The twin crises combined have impacted 65% of graphitisation capacity in China, a highly energy-intensive step in the production of lithium ion battery anodes. China produces over ",{"text":584,"type":572,"marks":585},"97% of the world’s synthetic graphite anode material",[586],{"type":587,"attrs":588},"link",{"href":589,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":590},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/chinas-anode-players-announce-3-9-billion-for-synthetic-graphite-projects","url",{"text":592,"type":572},".",{"type":567,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":572},"Higher electricity prices could push up the cost of battery anodes, at a time when battery producers are already struggling with near-record high lithium prices.",{"type":567,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":572},"“Graphitization is a high energy consuming step, which needs to be carried out where electricity is cheap,” Frank Li, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":604,"attrs":605,"content":607},"heading",{"level":606,"textAlign":49},4,[608],{"text":609,"type":572},"Coal-powered graphite",{"type":567,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":572},"The preferential power tariff was introduced in Mongolia in 2017 to encourage “strategic emerging industries” to base their operations in the region.",{"type":567,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":572},"Synthetic graphite production requires between 10,000 and 15,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per tonne of material produced. This is around the annual electricity usage of the average single-family home in the US.",{"type":567,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":572},"Synthetic graphite is produced from both pet and pitch needle coke, after which it is graphitised at temperatures of over 2,000 degrees centigrade.",{"type":567,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":572},"In the past, the combination of coal-fired energy and the preferential price tariffs made Inner Mongolia an extremely attractive location for graphitisation facilities.",{"type":567,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":572},"Inner Mongolia accounted for between 40% and 45% of graphitisation from coke products to synthetic graphite.",{"type":567,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":572},"However, the National Audit Office found in 2021 that the energy conservation and emission reductions were not up to the required standard. Synthetic graphite production using graphitisation in Inner Mongolia is on average 1.7 times more carbon intensive than the average for China.",{"type":567,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":567,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":572},"The National Development and Reform Commission of Inner Mongolia announced on September 1 that it would cancel the preferential power price policies stating it needed to “comprehensively clean up and cancel preferential tariff and other unreasonable price preferential policies for high energy consuming industries.”",{"type":567,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":572},"Benchmark contacts said the cancellation of the tariff would increase electricity costs by $10 to $20 per MWh, as reported in the latest Benchmark Synthetic Graphite Price Assessment.",{"type":567,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":572},"This could increase the graphitisation costs of anode materials by $15 to $43 per tonne, according to Benchmark. That in turn would increase the proportion of the cost of a battery associated with the anode, which is currently less than 5% of the bill of materials for some battery chemistries.",{"type":604,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"level":606,"textAlign":49},[661],{"text":662,"type":572},"Sichuan droughts",{"type":567,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[666],{"text":667,"type":572},"In recent years many Chinese companies moved to Sichuan province to take advantage of the province’s hydropower, which supplies 80% of its electricity. But this summer’s heatwave and drought showed the vulnerability of hydropower to changes in the climate.  ",{"type":567,"attrs":669,"content":670},{"textAlign":49},[671],{"text":672,"type":572},"Around 20% of graphitisation capacity in China is based in Sichuan province. ",{"type":567,"attrs":674,"content":675},{"textAlign":49},[676,682],{"text":677,"type":572,"marks":678},"Sichuan experienced a severe heatwave in August",[679],{"type":587,"attrs":680},{"href":681,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":590},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/what-impact-will-the-sichuan-power-cuts-have-on-chinas-battery-supply-chain",{"text":683,"type":572},", knocking out much of its hydropower electricity supply. To ensure residential buildings still had power, the local government ordered many industrial facilities to shut down including eight anode plants.",{"type":567,"attrs":685,"content":686},{"textAlign":49},[687],{"text":688,"type":572},"The shutdown led to the loss of 6,300 tonnes of anode production, according to Benchmark. ",{"type":604,"attrs":690,"content":691},{"level":606,"textAlign":49},[692],{"text":693,"type":572},"Opportunities for Western producers",{"type":567,"attrs":695,"content":696},{"textAlign":49},[697],{"text":698,"type":572},"Outside of China, very few companies produce synthetic graphite anode materials. The largest is Vianode in Norway, though supply outside of China accounts for just 3% of the global supply of synthetic graphite anode material, as reported in Benchmark’s Synthetic Graphite Forecast.",{"type":567,"attrs":700,"content":701},{"textAlign":49},[702],{"text":703,"type":572},"Although Inner Mongolia’s coal-powered grid remains one of the cheapest in China, the increase in electricity cost could see other countries better able to compete in the synthetic graphite market, Li said.",{"type":567,"attrs":705,"content":706},{"textAlign":49},[707],{"text":708,"type":572},"China could also be encouraged to move away from synthetic graphite anode production. “The rising cost will strengthen the consideration of natural graphite,” Li said.",{"type":567,"attrs":710,"content":711},{"textAlign":49},[712],{"text":713,"type":572},"In China, 75% of 2022 anode production is for synthetic graphite, compared to 23% for natural. This is in stark contrast to the rest of the world, for which 70% of supply was natural graphite anodes, according to Benchmark’s Anode Forecast.",{"type":567,"attrs":715,"content":716},{"textAlign":49},[717],{"text":718,"type":572},"However, despite the issues facing the major graphitisation centres of China, “Coal power generation in Inner Mongolia and hydropower in Sichuan are still the cheapest areas in China,” Li said.","China’s synthetic graphite production could become more expensive following a summer power crunch in Sichuan province as well as higher electricity prices in Inner Mongolia, highlighting the battery supply chain’s vulnerability to energy costs. This month Inner Mongolia cancelled the preferential power tariff previously enjoyed by graphitisation facilities, a vital step in the production of […]",[721],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":722},{"job_title":558,"image":723,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},{"filename":560},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"488f2119-86ed-4f36-af1e-9efe569db38c\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[727,729],{"slug":728,"name":261},"anode",{"slug":730,"name":731},"batteries","Batteries","private",{"id":49,"alt":734,"name":734,"focus":734,"title":734,"source":734,"filename":735,"copyright":734,"fieldtype":736,"meta_data":737,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/50f5a38a6d/bm-img-3351.jpg","asset",{"alt":734,"title":734,"source":734,"copyright":734},"Sep 07, 2022","7th September 2022",[],[],1781280285624]