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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":706,"relatedVideos":707},112472465276129,"ee73995e-8ce8-4e39-9d28-c08cbfc9d32c","What impact will the Sichuan power cuts have on China’s battery supply chain?","what-impact-will-the-sichuan-power-cuts-have-on-chinas-battery-supply-chain","article/what-impact-will-the-sichuan-power-cuts-have-on-chinas-battery-supply-chain",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":553,"content":563,"excerpt":685,"featured":50,"reporter":686,"_editable":690,"component":691,"seo_title":543,"categories":692,"visibility":698,"author_company":49,"featured_image":699,"seo_description":685,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":704,"formattedArticleDate":705},"8279d2da-941b-4325-b1ac-da1bbb20e146","2022-08-18 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",[566,573,578,583,588,603,608,613,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,665,670,675,680],{"type":567,"attrs":568,"content":569},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[570],{"text":571,"type":572},"Factory shutdowns due to a severe heatwave and drought in China’s Sichuan province could impact around a quarter of China’s lithium production capacity, helping to support lithium carbonate prices, according to Benchmark.","text",{"type":567,"attrs":574,"content":575},{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":572},"Lithium plants have shut down capacity following an order by authorities to factories in 19 cities in the province to shut until August 20 due to the worst drought and heatwave in 60 years, which has impacted hydropower production.",{"type":567,"attrs":579,"content":580},{"textAlign":49},[581],{"text":582,"type":572},"The orders and limited supply of electricity has led to shutdowns of production at cathode, synthetic anode producers and lithium processing plants in the province. That’s led to concerns that factories may need to stay closed longer than the proscribed six-day window.",{"type":567,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":572},"“Concerns have been expressed that there could be further shutdowns in the future, which may mean production rates are affected sporadically over the next month or so,” Daisy Jennings-Gray, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":567,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591,593,601],{"text":592,"type":572},"The heatwave comes after an almost 400% increase in Chinese lithium carbonate prices in China over the past year, according to ",{"text":594,"type":572,"marks":595},"Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment",[596],{"type":597,"attrs":598},"link",{"href":599,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":600},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/lithium-prices/","url",{"text":602,"type":572},". Battery-grade lithium carbonate prices in China rose by 0.6% over the past week, the largest week-on-week increase since Benchmark began reporting weekly EXW China lithium prices on 4 May 2022, due in part to concerns over the power shortages.",{"type":567,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"text":607,"type":572},"Battery grade lithium carbonate was last assessed at RMB 475,500/tonne ($70,375), according to Benchmark’s Lithium Price Assessment.",{"type":567,"attrs":609,"content":610},{"textAlign":49},[611],{"text":612,"type":572},"Up to 2,500 tonnes of LCE could be lost by the shutdowns, according to Jennings-Gray.",{"type":614,"attrs":615,"content":617},"heading",{"level":616,"textAlign":49},4,[618],{"text":619,"type":572},"Green batteries",{"type":567,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":572},"Sichuan province relies on hydropower for 80% of its electricity production, and also exports one-third of its power to other provinces.",{"type":567,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":572},"Many companies in the battery supply chain have moved to Sichuan in recent years in order to reduce their carbon footprint, including battery producers and synthetic anode producers.",{"type":567,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":572},"China’s largest battery company CATL is also building a 15 GWh battery plant in Yibin city, which it says is “zero-carbon.”",{"type":567,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":572},"There is a total of 9 gigawatt-hours of operational cell capacity in Sichuan, for production of nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) cells, according to Benchmark’s Lithium Ion Battery Gigafactory Assessment.",{"type":567,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":572},"CATL’s battery plant in Yibin city has also shut down production until August 20, a report in Jiemian News said, though there was no official confirmation from CATL.",{"type":567,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":572},"Construction could also be impacted at ongoing battery projects across the province that are scheduled to install another 38 GWh in 2023, according to Benchmark. There is a total of 401 GWh of battery pipeline capacity in the province out to 2031, according to Benchmark’s Lithium ion Battery Assessment.",{"type":614,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"level":616,"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":572},"Anode supply",{"type":567,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":572},"The power cuts have also caused more than 80% of the companies producing synthetic anode materials in Sichuan to shut down, mostly those doing graphitisation of graphite materials.",{"type":567,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":572},"The output of synthetic graphite anodes in Sichuan this year is expected to be around 200,000 tonnes, around 15% to 20% of China’s anode capacity, according to Benchmark.",{"type":614,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"level":616,"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":572},"Cathode production hit",{"type":567,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673],{"text":674,"type":572},"For cathodes, there is over 389,000 tonnes a year of operational cathode production capacity in Sichuan, with 170,000 tonnes belonging to an LFP plant operated by Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Materials (Yuneng New Energy). Including nearby Chongqing, which has also ordered a shutdown to save energy, that rises to 458,000 tonnes.",{"type":567,"attrs":676,"content":677},{"textAlign":49},[678],{"text":679,"type":572},"Some cathode producers are prioritising production of NCM cathodes over cathodes for digital electronics, according to Benchmark. That may push up prices for lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) cathodes.",{"type":567,"attrs":681,"content":682},{"textAlign":49},[683],{"text":684,"type":572},"For cathode producers, once a furnace is shut down it could take a week or more to heat it to normal temperatures to restart production, according to Albert Li, an analyst at Benchmark.","Factory shutdowns due to a severe heatwave and drought in China’s Sichuan province could impact around a quarter of China’s lithium production capacity, helping to support lithium carbonate prices, according to Benchmark. Lithium plants have shut down capacity following an order by authorities to factories in 19 cities in the province to shut until August […]",[687],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":688},{"job_title":558,"image":689,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},{"filename":560},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"8279d2da-941b-4325-b1ac-da1bbb20e146\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[693,695],{"slug":694,"name":261},"anode",{"slug":696,"name":697},"batteries","Batteries","private",{"id":49,"alt":700,"name":700,"focus":700,"title":700,"source":700,"filename":701,"copyright":700,"fieldtype":702,"meta_data":703,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/23af354620/bm-sichuan-dam.jpg","asset",{"alt":700,"title":700,"source":700,"copyright":700},"Aug 18, 2022","18th August 2022",[],[],1781280285842]