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Nickel is essential for EV batteries, one of the pillars of our exports.

China is almost 100% dependent on imports, but the current stockpile has decreased.

I am reminded of the number of elements situation that I do not want to recall.



Reporter Jeong Hye-jin pointed it out.



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New Caledonia, a small island in the South Pacific.



The blast furnace mine in the southern part of the island produces nickel, a key material for electric vehicle batteries.



It accounts for a quarter of the world's nickel reserves and 7% of its production.



American electric vehicle maker Tesla recently signed a nickel supply contract with New Caledonia.



In line with the Biden administration's policy of excluding China from the supply chain, it is diversifying its nickel supply lines.



Although Korea is a battery export powerhouse, it is almost 100% dependent on imports from China for nickel-refined products, a key battery material.



[Kim Kyung-hoon / Research Fellow, Korea International Trade Association: China exerts a fairly unrivaled influence in the supply chain of minerals (such as nickel precursors), and has a monopolistic influence in the (nickel) smelting process. Now, we have the initiative.]



If imports from China are cut off due to supply chain conflicts, etc., it could take a big hit like the urea crisis.



To prevent such a situation, the government designated nickel as a 'stockpile material' and set it to store 60 days' worth of average daily use.



However, as a result of checking, the amount of nickel stockpiled by the Public Procurement Service was found to be only 70.8% of the target.



It is said that it is difficult to survive even two months when income is cut off.



This is because the global demand for nickel has soared so much that the price of nickel in the international market surged 10.4% in just one week.



[Hong Seong-guk / Rep. of the Democratic Party: In order to maintain the safety plate of our economy, it seems that we need to increase the stockpile more than we actually think.]



Experts say, especially in the field of electric vehicle batteries, as the possibility of a second urea number incident is high. He points out that we need to actively diversify import sources for core materials.



(Video coverage: Kim Heung-gi, Video editing: Lee So-young, Source video: Korean Chemical Society・New Caledonia Tourism Authority YouTube・Prony Resources YouTube)