German media: China dominates the supply of critical minerals globally.

The latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that the global supply of critical minerals required for the clean energy transition is increasingly concentrated in a few countries, particularly China.

The IEA, headquartered in Paris, released a report on Wednesday stating that key minerals crucial to the green energy transition, such as copper, lithium, cobalt, graphite, and rare earth elements, are seeing their global supply increasingly concentrated in a few countries. By 2024, the combined market share of the top three producing countries for these minerals will average 86%, up from 82% in 2020.

The report specifically noted that China is currently the leading refiner for 19 out of 20 strategic minerals, averaging approximately 75% of the market share.

Fatih Birol, the IEA's executive director, told The Associated Press in an interview: "The critical mineral supply chain is highly susceptible to disruptions, which can lead to rising consumer costs and weaken industrial competitiveness." He emphasized that diversification is the "golden rule" of energy security, applicable to economic security as well.

Birol also mentioned that the energy crisis triggered by cutting off natural gas supplies to Europe due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, as well as the global chip shortage during the pandemic, are typical warning cases. He believes that current challenges cannot be addressed solely through market mechanisms, and governments should introduce more targeted fiscal support and policy tools to promote the diversification of critical mineral development. Besides China, Indonesia has seen rapid growth in nickel production in recent years. Nickel is a key raw material for electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel production.

The report pointed out that under the trade policies of the Trump administration, U.S. manufacturing has been somewhat suppressed, particularly in areas such as chips, robotics, electric vehicles, batteries, and military equipment. Within the first 100 days of regaining office, Trump listed reducing dependence on foreign critical minerals as one of the important issues for national security and economic recovery.

In addition to China, the Trump administration signed an agreement with Ukraine earlier this month to obtain mining rights for its critical mineral resources. Meanwhile, the United States is also promoting accelerated deep-sea mining, drawing strong opposition from environmental organizations. Furthermore, Trump signed an executive order in February requiring the federal government to expedite the approval process for mineral development, including copper mines, and is evaluating Congo's mineral proposals, even attempting to persuade Greenland to provide more mineral resources to the U.S. side.

Although the overall supply of minerals in the global market is currently sufficient and prices are generally declining, the IEA warned that there will be about a 30% gap in the supply of copper, a core raw material for grids and electric equipment, by 2030, failing to meet the rapidly growing global demand.

Source: DW

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1833112419584008/

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