China is a dominant supplier of critical minerals – mainly in categories such as ore, waste, scrap and unprocessed (crude), metals or finished products – to India. Of the approximately 24 minerals identified by the Ministry of Mines, China is among the top three in at least 15 of these. Incidentally, India remains the net importer of most of these minerals.
The critical minerals for which China will be the largest supplier as of FY24 include cobalt – commercial oxides, moblybdenum – raw minerals and rods, nickel oxide and in raw form, potash and glauconite, rare earth elements (REE), tantalum, titanium and tungsten. China’s share of these minerals ranges between 99 percent (for nitrates of potassium) and 72 percent (for both REE and raw titanium reserves). The volume supply was 1,471 tons for potassium nitrate and approximately 25 tons for commercial cobalt oxide.
In the field of artificial graphite, China is the largest supplier, with a market share of 66 percent. Artificial graphite includes colloidal (where particles remain evenly dispersed) or semi-colloidal, preparations based on graphite or other carbon form of pastes, blocks. According to a written response by Union Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy in the Lok Sabha, around 67,088 tonnes were imported in the last fiscal.
The East Asian country is also among the top three for the supply of other crucial minerals, including lithium (oxide and hydroxide), where it ranks third after Belgium and Russia.
It is the second largest supplier of beryllium – salts of oxometallic or peroxometallic acids, cadmium, natural graphite, tellurium and rhenium. The share of reserves varies between 39 percent (natural graphite) and 6 percent (beryllium salts).
Other countries
The other minerals that India still depends on imports, but not from China, include gallium and indium – the largest supplier is the US, accounting for 100 percent of the supply of both minerals, niobium – largely dependent on Germany and Russia , selenium – Japan being the largest supplier, tin – mainly from Indonesia, platinum group of elements – sourced from the UK and UAE, phosphorus – mainly from Jordan, vanadium – sourced from Germany for ores and concentrates and from Mexico for oxides and hydroxides and zirconium – from Indonesia (for ores) and France (raw and powders).
There are other minerals such as cobalt where certain major categories are supplied – such as hydroxides and oxides are dominated by Belgium, natural graphite – dominated by Madagascar, and lithium carbonates where Ireland has the largest market share. In molybdenum, Chile is the main supplier of ores and concentrates, while the US is the largest for oxides and hydroxides.
In certain cases, such as nickel, different countries dominate supply in specific categories. For example, Australia, Japan, Belgium and Saudi Arabia are important suppliers in specific segments such as nickel oxides and hydroxides, chlorides and sulphates of minerals and scrap.
Metals such as nickel are used in stainless steel, batteries, food processing and renewable energy, while molybdenum is used as an alloying agent, pigment and colorants, lubricant, etc. Cobalt, lithium and graphite are used in batteries, among others.
Net importer
According to Minister Reddy, India is a net importer of most crucial minerals “due to their zero or limited reserve/production in the country”.
The net import bill for FY24, according to the Lok Sabha document, is around ₹30,000 crore, with net imports of phosphorus being the highest at ₹12,648 crore. Net imports of REE are the only ones with a negative balance of ₹247 crore, indicating that India could be a net exporter of the same.
In comparison, India’s net import bill for critical minerals was over ₹42,000 crore, with phosphorus being the highest at ₹15,123 crore.
