Since December 1, many companies in Japan and South Korea have been anxious, because China's export control measures on graphite announced on October 20 will be officially implemented from now on.
Japan's Fuji graphite industry did not hesitate to spend huge sums of money to rush to buy a large amount of graphite to maintain inventory; Mitsubishi Chemical is looking for top businessmen all over the world, hoping to find alternatives.
South Korea's L&F and some companies in the United States have also started emergency purchases in an attempt to reduce the impact of the restrictions on graphite exports. The only graphite company in the United States even called on Washington to increase its support for it.
Why are we suddenly restricting graphite exports? Because graphite is our trump card**!
We need time to push forward a few days. The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a statement on October 18, saying that it would further implement comprehensive export controls on China, the most important of which is restrictions on high-tech products such as chips, in an attempt to intimidate China and restrict China's scientific and technological development.
In the face of difficulties from the United States and others, we naturally have to show our swords and choose to "fight snakes and hit seven inches"!
If you want to know why China's restriction on graphite exports can cause such a big reaction and hit their "seven inches", we have to start with graphite itself.
As an extremely important strategic resource, graphite has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity properties, and is used in almost all electric vehicle batteries, as well as semiconductors and nuclear reactors, and is indispensable.
And due to the vigorous development of new energy vehicles and other industries, the demand for graphite around the world is also increasing. Relevant data shows that since 2018, the global graphite market for batteries alone has increased by 250%, and this demand is further expanding.
At the same time, China's graphite reserves are the largest in the world.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, there are currently 71 million tons of proven graphite reserves in the world, of which 55 million tons are in China alone, accounting for 77% of the world's reserves.
The current situation is that China is the world's largest graphite producer, and it is also the largest graphite material in the United States, and one-third of the graphite imports in the United States come from China.
U.S. allies are more reliant on Chinese graphite, with South Korea and Japan, which are the most strained, importing more than 90 percent of their graphite needs.
Of the 850,000 tons of graphite produced in China last year alone, there were 24470,000 tonnes were exported, with the United States, Japan and South Korea being the largest buyers.
Therefore, it can be said that the purity of this restriction on exports "999%, flexural strength: 30MPa, density: 173 grams of cubic centimeters of artificial graphite materials and their products, and natural flake graphite and its products (including spheroidal graphite, expanded graphite, etc.) are seven inches in their automotive battery and other industries.
Interrupting this "seven inches" can make the development of new energy vehicles difficult!
Not only that, but the US arms business will even be affected. A large number of graphite-based composite materials are used in the latest Ford-class aircraft carriers in the United States, and a large number of graphite materials are also used in the development of hypersonic missiles and lasers.
You must know that the arms business is a major lifeline for the United States, and now the production of arms is going to be affected.
Not only graphite, but gallium and germanium in the United States are also highly dependent on China, and according to the Washington Post, these minerals are vital to the U.S. economy and ***."
China controls more than half of the world's lithium production and 80% of cobalt, both of which are key components of batteries, and also dominates the nickel and manganese chains.
If China cuts off exports of these minerals to the United States, the United States will be hit as hard as China was when it was restricted from buying chips.
Gracelin Baskaran, a mining economist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, once said bluntly: "If China really wants to stifle us, they will directly restrict the export of rare earths, and we know they are willing to use them." This is fatal for the United States.
However, the graphite export controls on the United States, Japan and South Korea are not without leeway. As long as they guarantee that the graphite purchased from China will not be used for military purposes, we will still treat these minerals to qualified companies.
In other words, whether you can buy graphite or not depends on my words.
This export restriction is equivalent to a "warning", if you are willing to develop peacefully and cooperate, and do not engage in chip bans and other sanctions against us, we are still very willing to develop together.
But if the United States, Japan, South Korea, and others insist on going their own way and insisting on going black on the road of restricting China's development, then don't blame us for being unkind.