By Ernest Scheyder and Lewis Jackson
(Reuters) – A Chinese company has stopped exporting a piece of equipment used to process the electric vehicle battery metal lithium, in the clearest sign yet manufacturers are already implementing export controls proposed by Beijing.
Jiangsu Jiuwu Hi-Tech told customers last month it would stop exporting a piece of filtration equipment known as a sorbent from February 1, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter and documents seen by Reuters.
China is the world’s largest producer of sorbents, used to extract lithium from brines or other solutions containing the battery metal, although its market size can be difficult to ascertain given Beijing’s reticence to share data, analysts say.
The decision by Jiangsu shows Beijing’s threat, made public in January, to restrict the export of some battery and lithium technology, including sorbents, is changing behaviour even though the change is for now only a proposal. If approved, companies would need government licenses for overseas sales.
An executive at another lithium extraction technology company, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Jiangsu and Sunresin New Materials, another major sorbent producer, are negotiating with the government over the proposal.
Representatives for Jiangsu and Sunresin did not respond to questions from Reuters. Sunresin’s chairman said a month ago the company’s overseas expansion plans included transferring technology to customers.
Beijing has not publicly discussed the proposal since it was released last month.
Some in the industry consider it is already a deterrent to exporting listed items to unfriendly countries. A China-based international lawyer with clients in the clean energy industry said it was having a “chilling effect”.
Officials with China’s Ministry of Commerce have visited several companies to discuss the proposal and in one case, warned against proceeding with a $1 billion export deal that is being negotiated, the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Banks are also asking for extra approvals before signing off on export finance for items on the list, the person added.
China’s Ministry of Commerce did not respond to questions from Reuters.
While it is unclear how restrictive the curbs would be if implemented, the proposal alone underscores Beijing’s willingness to use its dominance of the mining and processing of lithium and many other critical minerals as leverage in its escalating trade war with Washington.
China’s antimony export ban, announced last December, has already affected the Western auto market, Reuters has reported.
A spokesperson for Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, the joint venture between China’s Tianqi and Australia’s IGO that controls the world’s largest lithium mine and a major lithium refinery, said it was taking advice on Beijing’s export proposal and considering its options.
BUILDING AN ALTERNATIVE SUPPLY CHAIN
In the near term, any disruption of Chinese sorbent exports may affect plans by Western oil producers to extract lithium from their operations by limiting their technological options.
Among them, Exxon Mobil has studied the potential use of Chinese processing equipment at its planned lithium operations, in the U.S. state of Arkansas, two sources familiar with the plans said. Exxon declined to comment.
Koch Industries, the largest investor in Arkansas lithium developer Standard Lithium, agreed in 2023 to use sorbents from China’s Xi’an Lanshen New Material Technology in its North American operations.
A representative for Koch declined to comment.
Several Western sorbent producers say they may be able to take market share, although none of them has the market experience of Chinese rivals and their equipment has yet to reach commercial production.
“We have to completely change the technologies and innovate in production and processing, and we have to do it without being beholden to China, which has a 20-year head start and controls the game,” said Brian Menell, CEO of TechMet, which invests in Western mining companies and lithium equipment producers.
Francis Wedin, chairman of Vulcan Energy Resources, which has developed its own sorbent technology that it plans to use in Germany, said would-be lithium producers were lining up for help.
“Over the past few weeks we’ve gotten inundated by companies wanting to approach us and buy our sorbent and license the technology,” he said declining to name the companies but saying they included large lithium companies from North and South America.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Lewis Jackson in Beijing; additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Amy Lv in Beijing; editing by Veronica Brown and Barbara Lewis)
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