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Japan, Canada to Build Joint Battery Metals Supply Chain

A Japanese trade mission including public officials and private representatives of 16 battery industry firms were in Canada last week


A worker wearing protective clothing is seen near a mine in Canada. File photo: Reuters.

 

Japan and Canada are looking to join forces to build stronger supply chains for battery metals, Japan’s industry minister, Yasutoshi Nishimura, announced on Tuesday.

A public-private mission led by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and including 16 companies that work with batteries, visited Canada last week for talks on constructing sustainable and resilient supply chains, he said.

“Canada has an abundance of battery metals and good market access to the United States,” Nishimura told a news conference.

“Canada is one of the most important countries for Japan when it comes to strengthening our supply chains of storage battery metals,” he said.

 

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He declined to give details of the talks but said he would take various opportunities, including an upcoming G7 ministerial meeting, to reinforce cooperation with Canada.

As the chair of the Group of Seven nations (G7) this year, Japan will hold a ministerial meeting on climate, energy and environment in the city of Sapporo on April 15-16, ahead of a G7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, to promote what it calls a realistic energy transition.

Batteries are key for Japan as it strives for carbon neutrality by 2050 as they are the most important technology in the electrification of automobiles and other devices and essential for boosting the adoption of renewable energy.

 

  • Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara

 

Read more:

China’s Reliance on Foreign Battery Metals a ‘Risk to EV Sector’

China Hits Back at Canada Over Minerals Firms Exit Order

Australia’s EV Metals Group Acquires UK Battery Division

 

 

Sean O'Meara

Sean O'Meara is an Editor at Asia Financial. He has been a newspaper man for more than 30 years, working at local, regional and national titles in the UK as a writer, sub-editor, page designer and print editor. A football, cricket and rugby fan, he has a particular interest in sports finance.