Indonesia’s severe drought threatens to disrupt China’s vast battery industry

South China Morning Post - Nov 3, 2026

A severe drought in Indonesia is slowing output of a crucial material used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, creating risks across China’s vast electric car supply chain. Indonesia is a vital link in the global electric car supply chain. The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s biggest production hub for nickel, a metal that is converted into a component used in lithium-ion batteries. But a sharp drop in rainfall in the country is causing local nickel refineries to reduce output, a...

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