The FSUE FEO enterprise of the powerful “court” state corporation Rosatom is crushing the market for recycling lead from batteries. What will come of this, we will see at the prices of car batteries.
From March 1 of this year, the subsidiary of Rosatom, FSUE FEO, will become the single operator for the collection of used batteries, and the disposal of used lead-acid batteries will have to be paid according to the tariff set by the single operator.
Reference:
Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Federal Ecological Operator” – FSUE “FEO”. General Director Sidenok Konstantin Semenovich. Retired admiral. Former commander of the Pacific Fleet and Baltic Fleet, submariner.
Number of employees – 317
Authorized capital 7441.01 mln.
It is clear that the competence of the retired admiral is not in doubt, but what does the waste of classes I-IV, and even more so lead-containing materials, have to do with it? The author of these lines, although he did not reach the rank of admiral, but served in the Soviet army, and work with all types of batteries was part of his responsibilities.
14 lead recycling companies and battery manufacturers turned to the government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade, expressing understandable fears about the rise in price of raw materials and the emergence of a shortage of lead in the market. The fact is that more than half of the supply of lead for batteries is provided by the market for the collection of used batteries. The supply of lead for batteries from the reception of used batteries is more than two times cheaper than obtaining the same raw material from lead ore, which, by the way, is not so rich in our country. And taking into account the annually increasing import of this strategic raw material to China, the market even threatens to cover the lead deficit.
For decades, a well-established chain of disposal of old batteries has developed – individuals and legal entities could hand them over to collection points, through private intermediaries, which were available in almost all federal districts. Further, spent batteries were delivered either to battery production plants, which have their own melting shops, or to secondary lead processing enterprises. Next, the production of new batteries worked. But from March 1, the situation will change dramatically.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade acknowledged the risk of a lead shortage due to a new initiative of the state corporation. But this deficit can hit not only the production of car batteries, which will immediately hit the prices for this necessary unit of each car. The lead shortage due to the new reform and the transfer of all functions of the receiver of raw materials to the state corporation can hit the production of cables and cartridges in the country. This is exactly what the authors of the letter to the ministry and the Federation Council are talking about – UMMC, AKOM Group of Companies, the Tyumen Battery Plant, Fregat, Kontsel, Elektrokabel. Over 80% of all lead is obtained from used batteries, and any supply disruptions can lead to higher prices, both for the raw materials themselves and for final products – car batteries and cartridges, which, in turn, will lead to higher prices for already unreasonably high prices. .
That is, in fact, one of the state corporations initiates an increase in prices for the products of another state corporation – Rostec, which is in charge of the production of cartridges for small arms for the Russian army. Does the hand wash? Or nothing personal just business?
Climbing into the already established and well-established lead processing market, FSUE FEO from Rosatom receives a significant part of the “pie” from the market, but risks disrupting the existing supply system for enterprises producing car batteries. Moreover, as a result of the monopolization of the recycled lead market, hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises will go bankrupt according to the already well-established system of acceptance of recyclable materials. In fact, this is the creation of a public-private monopoly in a market economy. The state corporation is developing a non-core market, in order to obtain additional profit not for the state, but for top managers and directors of various “daughters” that this state structure has spawned.
Of course, private battery acceptance points to some extent took into account the transport and logistics local component in the price of receiving recyclable materials – used batteries. Whether the state corporation will do the same is a big question! And wouldn’t it turn out that it’s easier and more profitable to store old batteries stupidly in a warehouse than to spend money on transporting them for a penny to a collection point? Or, even worse, it will be easier to simply throw batteries into a landfill, worsening the already difficult environmental situation in the region.
From an alternative point of view, the undertaking seems to be a good one. The state, with the help of Federal State Unitary Enterprise FEO (SC Rosatom), will be able to control the processes of disposal of batteries, or rather lead and acids contained in them. And thus control a large part of both the market for secondary raw materials and the environmental component of waste. Of course, a large state corporation will be able to support remote collection points for recycling at the expense of more “successful” points. But, where is the guarantee that there will be such points in each district? Instead of already successful ones. And that it will be profitable for private owners and auto enterprises, taking into account transportation costs, to bring battery trash there?
In this situation, it is not the concern of the state and the state corporation (as a conductor of the ideas of this state about ecology or the proper organization of recycling), but rather the selfish interest of both individual structures and their leaders.
The global consumption of cars is growing, along with this, the consumption of car batteries is also growing. But batteries, having served their useful life (which is about 36 months), become a problem that requires proper handling. Lead recycling is more of their processing and remelting into new batteries. This is both more profitable and cheaper than their production of their lead ore. This makes it possible to recycle lead, reducing the environmental burden on nature.
“The shortage of raw lead in the domestic market can lead to an increase in production costs for processing enterprises and, ultimately, entails an increase in the cost of finished lead-containing products.”
