China has dominated the global lithium-ion battery supply chain.

That’s according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s (BNEF) lithium-ion battery supply chain ranking in 2020, which suggests the country surpassed Japan and Korea, which were leaders for much of the previous decade.

Data shows China’s domestic battery demand, which is estimated to total 72GWh, along with its control of 80% of the world’s raw material refining, 77% of the world’s cell capacity and 60% of the world’s component manufacturing, have contributed to its high ranking.

In 2020, Japan and Korea rank in second and third place respectively, according to the report.

Findings also reveal that while both countries are leaders in battery and components manufacturing, they do not have the same growth in raw materials refining and mining as China.

James Frith, BNEF’s Head of Energy Storage, said: “The next decade will be particularly interesting as Europe and the US try to create their own battery champions to challenge Asian incumbents who are already building capacity in both places.

“While Europe is launching initiatives to capture more of the raw material value chain, the US is slower to react on this.”