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High-Nickel",144.45,149.67,-3.49,26.69,49.06,[498,499,500,502,504,506,508,510,512,514,516,518],{"date":188,"value":492},{"date":200,"value":493},{"date":202,"value":501},157.37,{"date":205,"value":503},160,{"date":208,"value":505},149.53,{"date":211,"value":507},141.97,{"date":214,"value":509},136.99,{"date":217,"value":511},129.81,{"date":220,"value":513},114.02,{"date":223,"value":515},109.17,{"date":226,"value":517},109.02,{"date":228,"value":519},99.44,{"publishedDate":188,"updateFrequency":189,"updateFrequencyText":190,"label":521,"today":522,"last":523,"percentageChange":524,"yearToDate":525,"yearOnYear":526,"oneYearIndexTrend":527,"url":377,"subscription":49,"isProtected":50,"hasAccess":51},"LFP",229.17,218.34,4.96,49.35,83.44,[528,529,530,532,534,536,538,540,542,544,546,548],{"date":188,"value":522},{"date":200,"value":523},{"date":202,"value":531},239.1,{"date":205,"value":533},258.32,{"date":208,"value":535},239.37,{"date":211,"value":537},213.01,{"date":214,"value":539},204.49,{"date":217,"value":541},218.06,{"date":220,"value":543},153.45,{"date":223,"value":545},134.02,{"date":226,"value":547},118.22,{"date":228,"value":549},111.93,{"id":551,"uuid":552,"name":553,"slug":554,"full_slug":555,"content":556,"relatedArticles":699,"relatedVideos":700},112473942089243,"2b573682-9aea-4bbb-90ad-f24bc81af914","Chinese supply resurgence amid graphite market’s evolution","chinas-graphite-resurgence","article/chinas-graphite-resurgence",{"_uid":557,"date":558,"tags":559,"editor":563,"content":573,"excerpt":680,"featured":50,"reporter":681,"_editable":685,"component":686,"seo_title":553,"categories":687,"visibility":691,"author_company":49,"featured_image":692,"seo_description":680,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":697,"formattedArticleDate":698},"130073b1-c9d1-4b9a-af66-1be43fc2b1cc","2020-06-26 00:00",[560],{"slug":561,"name":562},"china","China",[564],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":567},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":568,"image":569,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":570},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/2c5ca5c1a3/didi-bostock.jpeg","Didi is the Energy Transition & Economics Editor at Benchmark, covering a broad range of markets across the energy transition. His remit spans from downstream sectors such as BESS and EVs, through to midstream such as new technologies and battery production, to upstream critical minerals mining. He also leads on financial analysis across these supply chains, alongside in-depth policy analysis.\n","https://www.linkedin.com/in/didi-bostock-656342198/",{"type":574,"content":575},"doc",[576,583,588,595,600,605,610,615,620,625,630,635,640,645,650,655,660,665,670,675],{"type":577,"attrs":578,"content":579},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[580],{"text":581,"type":582},"The start of the year saw Covid pressures bring shutdowns to Chinese flake graphite as the country was battling the initial outbreak of the disease. There had limited activity in the flake graphite market, as many Chinese producers kept factories closed, or operated at low utilisation rates, following the winter shutdown and mandated extension to Spring Festival closures linked to Covid.","text",{"type":577,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":582},"However, since the start of the year we have seen a reversal in the supply picture and a recovery in China’s natural flake graphite production capacity as the country’s share of global supply increased, while African supply diminished with the suspension of operations at Syrah Resource’s Balama project.",{"type":589,"attrs":590,"content":592},"heading",{"level":591,"textAlign":49},4,[593],{"text":594,"type":582},"Supply shift delayed",{"type":577,"attrs":596,"content":597},{"textAlign":49},[598],{"text":599,"type":582},"The natural flake graphite industry had been undergoing a massive shift which led to China becoming a net importer of natural flake graphite for the first time in a generation last year. This marked a significant evolution in the industry as China was no longer the sole low-cost supplier, with African supply promising to upend the status quo.",{"type":577,"attrs":601,"content":602},{"textAlign":49},[603],{"text":604,"type":582},"However, the prices at which African producers had to sell at to compete with domestic Chinese supply have proved to be unsustainable. This sustained low-price environment, coupled with the fallout from Covid, have set back this transition to further non-Chinese sources of supply. While China was a net importer of graphite only a year ago, the latest data shows imports of flake graphite into China have dramatically decreased, falling to 1,484 tonnes in April, down 31% on March figures and 90% y-o-y.",{"type":577,"attrs":606,"content":607},{"textAlign":49},[608],{"text":609,"type":582},"The bulk of Chinese graphite imports had come from Syrah Resources which announced the suspension of operations at its Balama graphite mine in Mozambique at the end of March. The closure was declared in response to quarantine measures for international arrivals in Mozambique, leading Syrah to temporarily suspend production.",{"type":577,"attrs":611,"content":612},{"textAlign":49},[613],{"text":614,"type":582},"The shutdown of operations at Balama has continued throughout Q2, although the company continued to ship small quantities of existing inventory to non-Chinese customers during this time. Syrah has seen an uptick in the average sales price in this period, which it reported at $478/tonne. However, the bulk of its sales prior to the shutdown had been into China where it competed with low-cost Chinese domestic production.",{"type":577,"attrs":616,"content":617},{"textAlign":49},[618],{"text":619,"type":582},"The Balama operation accounted for over 85% of African flake graphite production last year, with Benchmark’s Graphite Forecast estimating the company produced 150,000 tonnes in 2019. With the project offline, the share of production from Africa has fallen significantly.",{"type":577,"attrs":621,"content":622},{"textAlign":49},[623],{"text":624,"type":582},"Despite this production coming offline in the near-term, there still remains the need for low-cost sources of natural flake graphite —both imported and domestically produced — for China’s burgeoning downstream industry.",{"type":577,"attrs":626,"content":627},{"textAlign":49},[628],{"text":629,"type":582},"There is a huge focus on value-added processing in the country which will require much more low-cost feedstock. China’s strategy continues to focus on building out these value-added capabilities while also increasing sources of supply from outside of the country.",{"type":577,"attrs":631,"content":632},{"textAlign":49},[633],{"text":634,"type":582},"To secure this supply, Chinese companies have been critical in bringing online ex-Chinese supply, with Syrah’s Balama project funded off the back of partnerships with Chinese offtakers, including anode producers BTR and Zhanjiang Juxin New Energy Materials.",{"type":577,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":582},"Downstream companies are still keen to team up with raw material producers from outside of China as shown by deals agreed with project developers in the space during Q2.",{"type":577,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":582},"For instance, NextSource Materials signed a letter of intent with two unnamed offtake partners — a Japanese trading company and a downstream Chinese spheronised and purified graphite processor — to collaborate on the construction of its spherical graphite plant near its Molo graphite mine in Madagascar. The Molo mine is expected to ramp up to 17,000 tpa of battery-grade flake graphite concentrate by October 2020, with plans to expand up to 45,000 tpa of capacity by October 2021.",{"type":577,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":582},"Black Rock Mining signed a strategic alliance and MoU with Korean anode producer POSCO to develop the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania. The deal, which requires the completion of due diligence, will see POSCO invest US$10 million in the first phase and in the second phase an offtake agreement of 40,000 tonnes per annum.",{"type":577,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":582},"In June EcoGraf announced a partnership with Thyssenkrupp AG for the future sale of EcoGraf’s spherical graphite from its Kwinana Facility, Western Australia. EcoGraf is also developing the Epanko Graphite Project in Tanzania which would provide feedstock to the Kwinana plant.",{"type":589,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"level":591,"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":582},"Chinese supply boom",{"type":577,"attrs":661,"content":662},{"textAlign":49},[663],{"text":664,"type":582},"While there is notable capacity in the pipeline developing outside of China, within the country the buildout of graphite’s downstream industry and the need for low-cost feedstock is driving increased domestic supply. This is currently being led by regional governments which are aggressively building capacity, further contributing to the low-price environment and impacting the competitiveness of ex-China producers.",{"type":577,"attrs":666,"content":667},{"textAlign":49},[668],{"text":669,"type":582},"While Chinese supply was curtailed at the start of the year with Covid shutdowns, by the start of Q2 operations in Heilongjiang province returned to normal and production in Luobei and Jixi resumed by early April.",{"type":577,"attrs":671,"content":672},{"textAlign":49},[673],{"text":674,"type":582},"While utilisation of existing capacity has increased, new graphite expansions linked to state-owned Minmetals will be key for bringing on new supply. Minmetals have confirmed RMB 1bn ($141m) of further investment into graphite production in Luobei. The Minmetals investment will lead to new flake graphite, spherical graphite and anode projects as the region looks to buildout its capabilities across the graphite value chain. The projects are planned to have a combined capacity of 100ktpa spherical and 50kpta of anode capacity when complete. In this environment, further pressure is also mounting on domestic producers with consolidation in the sector becoming increasingly likely.",{"type":577,"attrs":676,"content":677},{"textAlign":49},[678],{"text":679,"type":582},"Within China the focus continues to be on building out the value-added capabilities while also increasing sources of supply from outside of the country. For now, the bulk of natural flake graphite supply used in China’s downstream industry will be domestically produced and in the long-term China will still remain the leading producer. But there still remains the need for low-cost, non-Chinese supply to meet growing Chinese downstream demand, despite the sudden reversal of graphite imports into China.","The start of the year saw Covid pressures bring shutdowns to Chinese flake graphite as the country was battling the initial outbreak of the disease. There had limited activity in the flake graphite market, as many Chinese producers kept factories closed, or operated at low utilisation rates, following the winter shutdown and mandated extension to […]",[682],{"slug":565,"name":566,"content":683},{"job_title":568,"image":684,"bio":571,"linkedin":572},{"filename":570},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"130073b1-c9d1-4b9a-af66-1be43fc2b1cc\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[688],{"slug":689,"name":690},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals","private",{"id":49,"alt":693,"name":693,"focus":693,"title":693,"source":693,"filename":694,"copyright":693,"fieldtype":695,"meta_data":696,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/a3da9045ed/bm-blackdragongraphitemine.png","asset",{"alt":693,"title":693,"source":693,"copyright":693},"Jun 26, 2020","26th June 2020",[],[],1789982597909]