2023-04-18 14:58:00
Will the energy transition trigger an international trade war in the coming years? wonders the Tribune in one of its recent publications on its website.
The newspaper indeed indicates that the risk exists, even if it is limited. “The need to secure the supply of mineral resources and strategic metals (such as lithium, nickel, rare earths, cobalt, manganese, graphite) will become more and more pressing, due to a demand which will be multiplied by six for certain metals. For producing countries, it is tempting to enjoy a dominant position to promote their interests,” explains latribune.frreferring to a recent OECD report.
The latter confirms that countries such as China, India, Vietnam, Russia, Argentina and Kazakhstan opted for this between January 2009 and December 2020, during which time the number of restrictions on their international sales, mostly in the form of taxes, has quintupled. The report indicates that these interventions concern only 10% of the exports of these critical minerals, in particular lithium, borates, cobalt, precious metals, manganese and magnesium, where dominant positions exist.
The site todayCalls for China to concentrate the production of magnesium and manganese, Vietnam and Argentina that of rare earths and lithium, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that of cobalt, adding that such interventions, likely to lead to increases in the price of metals and minerals, but also reducing their availability, might multiply in the future.
We also learn that even if the production of lithium, rare earths, chromium, arsenic, cobalt, titanium, selenium and magnesium has already increased significantly over the past decade, the current supply will not be enough. not to meet the needs of new industrial sectors.
The OECD also points to the problem of the concentration of imports, particularly in developed economies, which find themselves in competition to ensure their supply. Latribune.fr also points out that tensions might exacerbate not only between producing countries and consuming countries of critical metals but also between producing countries, because no country wants to miss the industrial turning point represented by the energy transition.
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