China approves EV materials exports to Korea

China allowed EV battery materials exports to Korean battery makers amid its curb started in December.

Posco Future M's factory manufacturing anode materials made of artificial graphite. [YONHAP]

China allowed EV battery materials exports to Korean battery makers amid its curb started in December.

The Chinese government in mid-December approved graphite exports to Posco Future M, Korea's only anode materials maker. Graphite is the main ingredient in anodes, one of four critical components in EV batteries.

"It's the first time we gained the approval from China since it announced curb in early December," a Posco Future M spokesperson said. "China now examines the exports one by one to offer approval."

Posco Future M supplies anodes to three main battery makers in Korea: LG Energy Solution, Samsung SDI and SK On.

"China's strengthening export restrictions is considered an act of revenge to the United States, so the intensifying conflict with the two countries may delay exports to Korean battery makers who have plants in the U.S. market," the Korea International Trade Association warned in a report in December. "Korea should diversify the supply chain of graphite and develop silicon anode technology that can replace graphite."

Korea is highly dependent on China for graphite, with it importing $241 million of the materials last year. Of them, 93.7 percent were from China, according to data from the Trade Ministry.

China also started curbing exports of gallium and germanium, raw materials for semiconductors, in August.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]