G7 Takes Aim at China’s Grip on Critical Minerals
Iraq Is Keeping Its Syria Oil Route—Even If Hormuz Reopens Shipping lines, retailers, and manufacturers… What I Cover Tsvetana Paraskova is an energy and commodities journalist who has contributed to Oilprice.com for nearly a decade, covering global energy markets, commodities,… The leaders of the G7 have created a strategic alliance on critical minerals in a coordinated effort to break China’s oversized control of the metals and minerals and rare earth elements crucial to the defense, automotive, and clean energy industries.
At the G7 summit in Evian, France, the leaders of G7 issued adeclarationin which the nations committed “to coordinating efforts within the G7 and with partner countries to establish and develop the necessary processing and industrial capacities for diversification of our critical minerals value chains.” Without explicitly mentioning China, the declaration stated the urgency of diversifying critical minerals supply from the current high degree of concentration.
It also expressed concerns about “the use of non-market policies and practices and economic coercion, including arbitrary export restrictions and retaliatory measures on critical minerals and their related dual-use items, all of which undermine economic security and resilience.” The G7 leaders committed to “work together with partners to reduce critical dependencies and ensure that attempts or threats to weaponize economic dependencies fail.” The Western countries also intend to stockpile critical minerals in the industrial or public sectors and, when necessary, share data and alerts on future market stress or supply or demand disruptions with G7 members and like-minded countries.
It is too early to say how the newly forged alliance will tackle China’s dominance across the entire supply chain of critical minerals, from mining to refining.Related: Equinor to Boost Troll Gas Output with $412 Million Subsea Development Despite major deals and government support in the West for building domestic supply chains, China has raised its market share over the past few years, the International Energy Agency (IEA)warnedin a report last year.
China dominates refining for 19 of the 20 minerals the agency has analyzed, holding an average market share of around 70%.
Major risk areas include high supply chain concentration, price volatility, and by-product dependency, the IEA says.
China is also using its dominant position to restrict global supply through export controls in an increasingly protectionist and polarized world.
The rare earth supply chain is among the most highly concentrated across all stages of the value chain, according toanalystsat the IEA.
Last year, China held a 59% share of the mining of rare earths, 91% in refining, and a whopping 94% in magnet manufacturing, the agency estimates.
China has significantly strengthened its position in the manufacturing of rare-earth-containing permanent magnets.
Two decades ago, China accounted for around 50% of the production of si.
| Product | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Brent Crude | $102.14/bbl | +0.34% |
| WTI Crude | $96.90/bbl | +0.21% |
| EN590 Diesel | $846/MT | +0.18% |
| Jet Fuel A-1 | $1090/MT | +0.55% |
| Mazut M100 | $450/MT | -0.15% |
| Bitumen 60/70 | $470/MT | +0.08% |
| Sulphur Gran 99.5% | $470/MT | -0.44% |
| Urea 46% Gran | $650/MT | +1.12% |
| NPK 16-16-16 | $460/MT | -0.28% |
| Nat Gas TTF | $15.42/MMBtu | +0.92% |
Comments
Post a Comment