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The world’s top automakers face disruption from tight global supplies of magnesium, as China’s power crisis threatens availability of the key component used to make aluminum, Germany’s association of metals producers WVM said on Tuesday It is expected that the current magnesium inventories in Germany and respectively in the whole of Europe will be exhausted by the end of November 2021,” the letter said. Magnesium is used for a range of products, especially aluminum alloys, which are used in several auto-parts from gearboxes and steering columns to seat frames and fuel tank covers. China, which is Europe’s main magnesium supplier, has ordered roughly 35 of its 50 magnesium smelters to close until the end of the year to conserve power supplies. So if magnesium supply stops, the entire auto industry will potentially be forced to stop,” Barclays analyst Amos Fletcher The problem has already reached North America. Canada’s Matalco Inc., which produces aluminum billet, told its clients last week that magnesium availability had “dried up”, and if the scarcity persisted it would have to curtail output and ration deliveries as soon as next year
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