South Korea Too Reliant on Chinese Raw Materials

Concerns are mounting over South Korea’s high reliance on Chinese raw materials with China’s urea export control leading to an increasing shortage of urea solutions in South Korea. The reliance is particularly high in the electric vehicle battery industry.

According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea’s current reliance on Chinese manganese products and aluminum cables amounts to 99 percent and 97.4 percent, respectively. In addition, it is as high as 94.5 percent, 93.8 percent 87.7 percent and 82 percent when it comes to magnesium ingots and scraps, galvanized steel sheets, graphite, and electrical steel.

Especially, manganese products and graphite are essential for rechargeable batteries. Manganese, which forms a cathode material, is buried in multiple countries, including South Africa, Brazil and Australia, and yet China surpasses all of them in output. China produced 31.67 million tons of manganese last year, when runner-up South Africa produced 16.02 million tons. These days, electric vehicle manufacturers such as Tesla and Volkswagen are focusing on manganese as an alternative to cobalt, which is the most expensive part of a cathode material. The current cobalt price per ton is US$59,200, up 82.3 percent from a year ago.

Graphite constitutes an anode material increasing the charging rate of a rechargeable battery. China produced 650,000 tons of graphite last year, accounting for 60 percent of the global total output. South Korea’s reliance on Chinese lithium hydroxide, cobalt hydroxide and cobalt sulfate is also over 80 percent.

“With China accounting for 50 percent of the global electric vehicle market and most electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities located in South Korea, China and Japan, China's value chain influence in the industry is indeed absolute,” said an industry source, adding, "Under the circumstances, any material supply setback will cause a production halt.”