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China’s dominance in the global lithium and lithium-ion battery supply chain

Latest development

Zimbabwe's export curbs and quotas turn African feedstock policy into a direct constraint on Chinese supply

Key takeaways

  • China's leverage in lithium comes less from owning every mine than from controlling refining, battery materials, manufacturing scale and now parts of the export-control chokepoints.
  • Producer countries and the United States are trying to keep more value at home, but state-led partnerships, quotas and subsidies are still slower to build than China's existing industrial base.
  • The market has moved from simple oversupply narratives to a policy-risk phase where licensing, quotas, export controls and storage demand can all reprice lithium quickly.

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