Graphite has traditionally been most important to the steelmaking industry, but that reliance has decoupled with the recent growth in use for batteries
  • Graphite demand is about to enter a period of rapid growth and price escalation.
    • - Roskill Consulting Group Ltd., 2018
For the first time in over five years, we're now seeing consistent increases in pricing due to supply-side pressures. At the same time, you have the emergence of new demand from value-added applications such as expandable graphite and spherical graphite for lithium-ion batteries.
  • Prices strengthen off the back of China's environmental compliance lock-down.
  • Large flake prices face strongest pressures; tight supplies worsen.
  • Consumers face short-term supply concerns with suppliers unwilling to sell as prices rise.
    • - Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, Fall 2017
  • As new non-Chinese battery cell manufacturing ramps up in Europe and North-America, they will be seeking out a sustainable non-Chinese graphite source for these materials.
    • Leading Edge Materials, 2017
  • The single most relevant factor supporting graphite trade has been the strong performance of steel markets. Steelmaking is the largest application for refractories, taking 60-70% of output of global refractories.
  • As much as 40% of graphite is used in refractories. The fortunes of graphite are instrinsically linked to the performance of steel.
  • Additional demand from the battery sector is directly translating into higher trade.
  • If the forecasts for EV consumption are to be believed, batteries would take up an increasing share of graphite supply in the coming years.
- Industrial Minerals, Dec. 2017.
  • Tesla Gigafactory 1 is expected to require over 42,000 tonnes of graphite anode material every year at a 35GWh capacity of new cell production.
  • Tesla is looking for several more locations to build Gigafactories to produce both batteries and electric vehicles in Europe and China.
    • Tesla, Inc., 2017