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Some few Russian products are in high demand. Natural gas, as others have said. Russia is the third biggest supplier of nickel, and iirc the biggest supplier o

Some few Russian products are in high demand. Natural gas, as others have said. Russia is the third biggest supplier of nickel, and iirc the biggest supplier of high grade nickel- a key component in many applications, not the least of which is in lithium batteries. London recently had to suspend nickel trading because the price was astronomically high. There will be no getting off of fossil fuels without nickel, and not anytime remotely soon without Russian nickel.

philipkglass 5y ago
Lithium iron phosphate batteries are a type of lithium ion battery that does not require nickel or cobalt. They're already used in many electric vehicles including standard-range Tesla vehicles. They're also a preferred choice for grid scale storage because the modestly lower energy density of LFP chemistry doesn't matter for a battery that sits in one place for years.
- outworlder 5y ago
  How are they tying up the cells together? That's usually done with Nickel bars.
  - bryanlarsen 5y ago
    Nickel plated copper. Doesn't help much, since copper is one of the few things more expensive than nickel...
    - philipkglass 5y ago
      I'm not aware of a time when copper was more expensive than nickel. It wasn't within the last 25 years: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/nickel https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/nickel
sandworm101 5y ago
There is plenty of nickel in Canada (Sudbury Basin). Raise the price a little and there will be plenty of non-Russian nickel available around the world.
- zdragnar 5y ago
  Sure, you just need a decade or so to get past all the environmental reviews, inevitable protests and NIMBYs to expand enough to cover not only the loss of the largest supplier but also the growing demand as EVs and other applications continue to grow. By the time you're halfway done, we'll be importing from the Russians again and the investment will collapse.
rasz 5y ago
>London recently had to suspend nickel trading because the price was astronomically high. Chinese owned LME suspended Nickel trading because: "China's Tsingshan Holding Group, one of the world's top nickel and stainless steel producers, had been building a short position in nickel since last year, betting prices would fall, three sources familiar with the matter said." It was a short squeeze and Chinese company was about to lose a shitton of money so they closed the market to cover their own.

philipkglass 5y ago

Lithium iron phosphate batteries are a type of lithium ion battery that does not require nickel or cobalt. They're already used in many electric vehicles including standard-range Tesla vehicles. They're also a preferred choice for grid scale storage because the modestly lower energy density of LFP chemistry doesn't matter for a battery that sits in one place for years.

outworlder 5y ago
How are they tying up the cells together? That's usually done with Nickel bars.
- bryanlarsen 5y ago
  Nickel plated copper. Doesn't help much, since copper is one of the few things more expensive than nickel...
  - philipkglass 5y ago
    I'm not aware of a time when copper was more expensive than nickel. It wasn't within the last 25 years: https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/copper https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/nickel https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/nickel

sandworm101 5y ago

There is plenty of nickel in Canada (Sudbury Basin). Raise the price a little and there will be plenty of non-Russian nickel available around the world.

zdragnar 5y ago
Sure, you just need a decade or so to get past all the environmental reviews, inevitable protests and NIMBYs to expand enough to cover not only the loss of the largest supplier but also the growing demand as EVs and other applications continue to grow. By the time you're halfway done, we'll be importing from the Russians again and the investment will collapse.

rasz 5y ago

>London recently had to suspend nickel trading because the price was astronomically high. Chinese owned LME suspended Nickel trading because: "China's Tsingshan Holding Group, one of the world's top nickel and stainless steel producers, had been building a short position in nickel since last year, betting prices would fall, three sources familiar with the matter said." It was a short squeeze and Chinese company was about to lose a shitton of money so they closed the market to cover their own.