China Restricts Exports of Graphite As It Escalates a Global Tech War (cnn.com) 51
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: China has unveiled plans to restrict exports of graphite -- a mineral crucial to the manufacture of batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) -- on national security grounds, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs said Friday. The announcement comes just days after the United States imposed additional limits on the kinds of semiconductors that American companies can sell to Chinese firms. China, which dominates the world's production and processing of graphite, says export permits will be needed, starting in December, for synthetic graphite material -- including high-purity, high-strength and high-density versions -- as well as for natural flake graphite. [...]
According to the US Geological Survey (PDF), the market for graphite used in batteries has grown 250% globally since 2018. China was the world's leading graphite producer last year, accounting for an estimated 65% of global production, it said. Besides EVs, graphite is commonly used in the semiconductor, aerospace, chemical and steel industries. The export curbs were announced as China faces pressure from multiple governments over its commercial and trade practices. For more than a year, it has been embroiled in a tech war with the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia over access to advanced chips and chipmaking equipment. "At the moment both China and Western countries are engaged in a tit for tat, highlighting how protectionist measures often spread. Newton's third law that every action causes a reaction applies here, too," said Stefan Legge, head of tax and trade policy research at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.
"At the same time, both sides of the dispute also realize how costly it is if geopolitics trumps economics," he added.
According to the US Geological Survey (PDF), the market for graphite used in batteries has grown 250% globally since 2018. China was the world's leading graphite producer last year, accounting for an estimated 65% of global production, it said. Besides EVs, graphite is commonly used in the semiconductor, aerospace, chemical and steel industries. The export curbs were announced as China faces pressure from multiple governments over its commercial and trade practices. For more than a year, it has been embroiled in a tech war with the United States and its allies in Europe and Asia over access to advanced chips and chipmaking equipment. "At the moment both China and Western countries are engaged in a tit for tat, highlighting how protectionist measures often spread. Newton's third law that every action causes a reaction applies here, too," said Stefan Legge, head of tax and trade policy research at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.
"At the same time, both sides of the dispute also realize how costly it is if geopolitics trumps economics," he added.
Oh No! (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
The flesh of new born babies.
Re: Oh No! (Score:2)
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mica is atomically flat and can be flaked off like graphene
O dear (Score:3)
We'll have to cut back on pencils in schools.
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You don't get it.
Graphite makes up 95-99% of the anode (negative electrode) material in lithium-ion batteries, making it the largest component in any EV battery.
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Don't worry dear! Mr. Biden has already taken action to counter this threat by banning mining of graphite in the US.
Somehow China got a monopoly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Somehow China got a monopoly (Score:5, Informative)
On the most common element in the universe? Doom. Doom I say.
Yeah, I did do an eye roll when I saw the article. I took a look, and if Turkey wants to enter the game, they have the biggest reserves in the world.
Interestingly, US doesn't have any graphite processing at the moment, but is considering to open processing at the aptly names Graphite Creek in the Seward Peninsula in Alaska. There are other locations in the US that either have known resources, or were once mined.
So okay China, you do you.
Re: Somehow China got a monopoly (Score:4, Informative)
The most common element in the universe is hydrogen, by a wide margin. And thatâ(TM)s even measuring by mass. By mole itâ(TM)s an even wider margin.
Carbon is⦠not uncommon though.
Re: Somehow China got a monopoly (Score:2)
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You mean get one get 2 oxygens free.
Carbon isn't the most common element, but it's one that's annoyingly in a lot of chemical reactions we do on the planet - the whole carbon cycle thing that powers all of life as we know it.
Graphite is also a common form of pure carbon, just like how diamond is another form of carbon. The pencil "lead" is basically graphite - so... no more Chinese made pencils?
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China produces the majority of the world's graphite. By limiting exports, they will force the price up for everyone else, at a time when most developed nations are trying to ramp up battery production as quickly as possible.
And keep in mind that China already has a big lead in battery technology.
Re:Somehow China got a monopoly (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah, they are experts on producing batteries that ignite spontaneously. Huge lead!
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At least I'm not spontaneously combusting! Pooh would be proud of your comment though. Go CCP!
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China produces the majority of the world's graphite. By limiting exports, they will force the price up for everyone else, at a time when most developed nations are trying to ramp up battery production as quickly as possible.
And keep in mind that China already has a big lead in battery technology.
Both the West and China are playing the export restriction game. Just as the unavailability of Western computing equipment might stimulate the production of Chinese indigenous products, the unavailability of Chinese manufacturing materials might stimulate the production of non-Chinese products. This is especially true for markets such as graphite where China only nominally dominates and where that domination is not due to resource or technology scarcity. This is in contrast to some of the Western sanctio
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I love the incentives to find better materials.
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Graphite may be common, but it's not currently mined in Europe or the US as far as I can see. It used to be, but the mines all closed. Canada has one small mine.
This may result in increased production in The West, but only because the price rose enough to make it viable. Obviously rising prices are not great for anything that uses graphite, such as batteries. Right now most developed nations are trying to ramp up battery production to cater to EVs and domestic vehicle manufacturing.
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It's not that easy, bro. The Chinese are great global producers.
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Sure sure... and watch how the first to cry bloody murder because they can't buy their cheap Chinese crap and would have to pay double the price for good old US manufactured goods being the same people who demand "America first"... but not when it comes to their wallet and having to pay for it!
Fucking hypocrites.
Re:trade war wooHoo (Score:4, Insightful)
If all that stuff was "Made in American" we would have more jobs. As it stands, we seem to be running a pretty low unemployment. To keep up with demand, we would need to ensure the jobs paid competitive wages to attract people to those jobs. If people were making that competitive wage, they would be just fine in affording those "Made in American" products.
The extra jobs and competitive wages would also increase our tax base while making people less reliant on government services. Instead of expanding those services we could keep them at today's budget or *gasps* maybe even shrink the tax money needed to fund those programs because more people would be working instead of needing government handouts.
But we can't have that because that would hurt the capital classes bottom line and that's what's truly important. No sustainability. Not self reliance as a country. Nope, profit for the owner class above all!
Newton's 3rd Law (Score:1)
... Newton's third law that every action causes a reaction applies here, too," said Stefan Legge,
I think/hope Stefan is speaking metaphorically here, because ... you know what, nevermind. Further, a country in motion will move in a straight line until a force acts upon it. Finally, a trade policy's net force is equal to its mass times its acceleration. We all know this from highschool economics.
Cutting off the nose to spite the face maybe? (Score:4, Interesting)
I thought the Chinese economy depended heavily on exports and trade, and that right now their economy has some big internal problems. If that is so, (and maybe it isn't, maybe I've watched too many Peter Zeihan videos on youtube lately), then who is going to be hurt the most by this?
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I thought the Chinese economy depended heavily on exports and trade, and that right now their economy has some big internal problems. If that is so, (and maybe it isn't, maybe I've watched too many Peter Zeihan videos on youtube lately), then who is going to be hurt the most by this?
China, but the real danger is that if they have lots of out-of-work people to spare, their government has little reason not to send them to war.
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china's unemployment rate is only 5.3%, so no they don't have lots of people to spare. But we are probably at more risk of the US doing that given its history.
The context I had in mind was a hypothetical future where a trade war causes a bunch of western countries suddenly massively reduce trade with China. It is safe to assume that the unemployment rate would be much higher than that if such a thing happened.
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China is doing a hell lot better than Peter Zeihan espouses. Of the total share of the world's gdp growth, according to the IMF, China + India equals half of the total's world gdp growth for 2023. China share of that is 2 times more than India's in raw numbers simply because of how huge the size of the economy is in comparison. The GDP growth in raw numbers is also higher than the US of course.
China could easily release more funds through fiscal/monetary policy, to create sugar high type craze like the US
Re:Cutting off the nose to spite the face maybe? (Score:4, Interesting)
Stop it. Get some help. (Score:2)
"Newton's third law that every action causes a reaction applies here, too," said Stefan Legge, head of tax and trade policy research at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland.
The irony of Baking Soda trying to comment from a position of neutrality. How cute.
In the immortal words of Michael Jordan, stop it. Get some help. Politics is the first law here. Duh.
I'll correct the title (Score:2)
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Buckyballs. (Score:2)
So the Global "Tech War" comes down to Resources (Score:2)
So, high tech war, fought over and by raw resource allocations.
So get it from Canida, the #6 producer. (Score:4, Insightful)
So get it from Canida:
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Why weren't they already doing that? Is it simply cost?
Almost certainly. (Could be the current output of their one mine is already committed elsewhere, so it had to wait for other mines to be opened or that one to be buy another truck or the like.)
If worst came to worst we could just MAKE it from any convenient carbon source. But that would cost about twice as much - give or take a tad depending mostly on what form you needed for your process' feedstock.
But why pay $2 for what you could buy from China for
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Pipe Dream (Score:3)
The US push for " Green Energy " including the conversion to all electric vehicles is a non-starter as long as the US remains reliant upon China for both the materials and refinement of said materials needed for battery tech.
The ONLY way this works is if:
1) China and the US suddenly decide to play together nicely ( never going to happen with Taiwan in the middle )
2) The US either becomes self reliant or finds another source of aforementioned materials needed for all things high-tech.
Why the idiots in charge keep pushing for this whole " Green Revolution " without the means to make it happen in the first place is anyones guess.