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industry?","what-do-chinas-plans-to-regulate-battery-capacity-expansions-mean","article/what-do-chinas-plans-to-regulate-battery-capacity-expansions-mean",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":562,"content":572,"excerpt":690,"featured":51,"reporter":691,"_editable":695,"component":696,"seo_title":543,"categories":697,"visibility":707,"author_company":49,"data_vis_image":708,"featured_image":714,"seo_description":690,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":717,"formattedArticleDate":718},"7332acd8-ecca-4eb3-a3a6-dc7a06ae4672","2024-05-14 00:00",[550,553,556,559],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",{"slug":554,"name":555},"data-visualisation","Data Visualisation",{"slug":557,"name":558},"european-union","European Union",{"slug":560,"name":561},"usa","USA",[563],{"slug":564,"name":565,"content":566},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":567,"image":568,"bio":570,"linkedin":571},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":569},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":573,"content":574},"doc",[575,582,595,600,607,612,617,622,625,630,643,648,653,658,663,668,679],{"type":576,"attrs":577,"content":578},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[579],{"text":580,"type":581},"China took steps to limit excess capacity in the lithium ion battery industry last week, as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a set of draft rules it said were designed to guide the “healthy” development of the sector.","text",{"type":576,"attrs":583,"content":584},{"textAlign":49},[585,587],{"text":586,"type":581},"China’s lithium ion battery sector has been heavily subsided since its classification as a strategic industry under the ‘Made in China 2025’ policy back in 2015. China now dominates lithium ion battery cell production: set to account for over 80% of global output in 2024, according to the ",{"text":588,"type":581,"marks":589},"Benchmark Lithium ion Battery Forecast.",[590],{"type":591,"attrs":592},"link",{"href":593,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":594},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/forecasts/lithium-ion-batteries/reports/","url",{"type":576,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":581},"While China has cemented itself as the global leader in battery cell production, economic and geo-political headwinds have left its domestic battery industry grappling with excess capacity. Slowing demand growth from the electric vehicle (EV) sector last year saw the average gigafactory capacity utilisation rate in the country fall to just 37%, down from nearly 50% the year before. ",{"type":601,"attrs":602,"content":604},"heading",{"level":603,"textAlign":49},4,[605],{"text":606,"type":581},"Increasing capacity utilisation rates",{"type":576,"attrs":608,"content":609},{"textAlign":49},[610],{"text":611,"type":581},"Following a challenging twelve months, many in China’s domestic battery industry have anticipated the market to undergo consolidation in 2024, according to Evan Hartley, senior analyst at Benchmark.",{"type":576,"attrs":613,"content":614},{"textAlign":49},[615],{"text":616,"type":581},"“Smaller producers in China are struggling with low cell prices, limited capacity utilisation rates, and the need for constant R&D efforts in order to match pace with more advanced manufacturers,” he said.",{"type":576,"attrs":618,"content":619},{"textAlign":49},[620],{"text":621,"type":581},"“Policies designed to limit expansions from companies already under utilising capacity could serve to protect the country’s battery industry from further consolidation,” Hartley added. “The rules could promote stability across the industry by forcing smaller producers to focus on increasing utilisation rates at existing facilities rather than building new capacity.”",{"type":576,"attrs":623,"content":624},{"textAlign":49},[],{"type":576,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":581},"Despite denials of overcapacity problems from Chinese officials’, excess capacity is evident across China’s battery supply chain. Benchmark data demonstrates that midstream capacity in the country is often multiple factors greater than global demand.",{"type":576,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633,635,641],{"text":634,"type":581},"Large scale Chinese investment in ",{"text":636,"type":581,"marks":637},"upstream mining projects too has pushed some battery raw material markets into structural oversupply",[638],{"type":591,"attrs":639},{"href":640,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":594},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/indonesian-nickel-investments-buck-wider-downturn",{"text":642,"type":581},", negatively impacting prices and squeezing margins for producers across these industries. ",{"type":601,"attrs":644,"content":645},{"level":603,"textAlign":49},[646],{"text":647,"type":581},"China seeks export markets to bolster growth",{"type":576,"attrs":649,"content":650},{"textAlign":49},[651],{"text":652,"type":581},"The consequences of this overcapacity could be higher costs and lower profits for Chinese companies, as they pay for under-utilised capacity and inventory they cannot sell. ",{"type":576,"attrs":654,"content":655},{"textAlign":49},[656],{"text":657,"type":581},"However, Jonathan Humphrey, senior economist at Benchmark, believes that China can keep financing strategic sectors such as the lithium ion battery and electric vehicle industry for a long time to come.",{"type":576,"attrs":659,"content":660},{"textAlign":49},[661],{"text":662,"type":581},"“China seems to be building out the capacity necessary to meet domestic demand, but consumers’ incomes aren’t there yet. In the meantime, it is exporting a lot of EVs to the rest of the world” he said.",{"type":576,"attrs":664,"content":665},{"textAlign":49},[666],{"text":667,"type":581},"China has been hit with accusations that it is using industrial overcapacity to boost economic growth through increased exports. The EU and US have cautioned that industrial overcapacity is allowing China to undercut prices across a number of high-tech and clean energy sectors, with harmful consequences for Western economies. ",{"type":576,"attrs":669,"content":670},{"textAlign":49},[671,677],{"text":672,"type":581,"marks":673},"A recent EU anti-dumping probe",[674],{"type":591,"attrs":675},{"href":676,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":594},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/how-the-eu-could-tackle-subsidised-imports-of-chinese-evs",{"text":678,"type":581}," found that Chinese EVs were being unfairly subsidised to an extent which reduces the competitiveness of automakers operating in the bloc, proposing to raise tariffs on China’s EV imports. ",{"type":576,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682,688],{"text":683,"type":581,"marks":684},"The US already imposes a 27.5% tariff on Chinese EV’s",[685],{"type":591,"attrs":686},{"href":687,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":594},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/what-policy-levers-does-the-us-use-to-limit-chinese-ev-competition",{"text":689,"type":581}," to limit their penetration into the world’s second largest vehicle market, with the Biden Administration reportedly set to raise this tariff to 100%.","China took steps to limit excess capacity in the lithium ion battery industry last week, as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a set of draft rules it said were designed to guide the “healthy” development of the sector. China’s lithium ion battery sector has been heavily subsided since its classification as a […]",[692],{"slug":564,"name":565,"content":693},{"job_title":567,"image":694,"bio":570,"linkedin":571},{"filename":569},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"7332acd8-ecca-4eb3-a3a6-dc7a06ae4672\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[698,701,704],{"slug":699,"name":700},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":702,"name":703},"geopolitics","Geopolitics",{"slug":705,"name":706},"gigafactories","Battery & Gigafactory","private",{"id":49,"alt":709,"name":710,"focus":710,"title":709,"source":710,"filename":711,"copyright":710,"fieldtype":712,"meta_data":713,"is_external_url":51},"China overcapacity","","https://res.cloudinary.com/benchmarkminerals/images/f_auto,q_auto/v1715681626/www-production/Screenshot-2024-05-14-111004/Screenshot-2024-05-14-111004.png?_i=AA","asset",{"alt":709,"title":709,"source":710,"copyright":710},{"id":49,"alt":710,"name":710,"focus":710,"title":710,"source":710,"filename":715,"copyright":710,"fieldtype":712,"meta_data":716,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/19d07bb4be/bm-hidden-gigafactory-vietnam.jpg",{"alt":710,"title":710,"source":710,"copyright":710},"May 14, 2024","14th May 2024",[],[],1781099280798]