You may not have spent a lot of time in your life thinking about Magnesium, but while you haven't been thinking about it, it  has carved out a nice little niche for itself in the motorcycle industry. Offering mighty strength, combined with very light weight, magnesium is a great boon to motorcycling when used in alloys.

So far, despite the global issues which all auto manufacturers have had over the past couple of years dealing with the pandemic, the motorcycle industry has fared reasonably well by comparison. Many people have forsworn public transport during covid, due to the infection risk, but not wanted to get stuck in a traffic jam in their cars, so there has been a big uptake in motorcycling as a safe and socially distanced mode of transport. Smaller motorcycles and scooters have been a really popular option and have been booming.

But just when things might have been expected to start stabilising, just maybe, here comes another problem, a global magnesium shortage coming from China. Approximately 90% of Magnesium worldwide is produced in China and 95% of Europe and the UK's Magnesium is sourced from China, so it really is an issue.

China itself has experienced a power crisis which has seriously impacted on magnesium production which is very heavy on power for the production process. So with Chinese Magnesium production seriously down during the autumn and winter of 2021, it's looking as though there will be an inevitable impact on the motorcycle industry.

The Automobile Manufacturers Association of Europe has sent a message to its members to appraise them of the looming Magnesium issue:
‘Europe is expected to run out of magnesium stocks by the end of November, with production shortages, business closures and associated job losses to follow.’

Oh dear, not trying to be a Dismal Desmond, but it might be a good time to look at getting a horse, only, knowing the world as it is right now, watch out for hay shortages!

Had you heard about this issue already? Any thoughts about its impact to share with us and our readers? We'd love to hear them Let us know at [email protected] or drop us a message on Facebook