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Mid-Nickel",103.5,99.73,3.78,13.78,6.78,[518,519,520,522,524,526,528,530,532,534,536,538],{"date":213,"value":512},{"date":216,"value":513},{"date":219,"value":521},99.19,{"date":222,"value":523},96.02,{"date":225,"value":525},98.23,{"date":467,"value":527},99.24,{"date":329,"value":529},101.29,{"date":339,"value":531},87.61,{"date":341,"value":533},92.44,{"date":344,"value":535},90.96,{"date":347,"value":537},92.24,{"date":350,"value":539},95.09,{"id":541,"uuid":542,"name":543,"slug":544,"full_slug":545,"content":546,"relatedArticles":682,"relatedVideos":683},112468774564695,"54d99a20-fb17-46b6-a194-218a2ba0f3f8","Does the West’s graphite industry need an ex-China price premium to thrive? ","does-the-wests-graphite-industry-need-an-ex-china-price-premium-to-thrive","article/does-the-wests-graphite-industry-need-an-ex-china-price-premium-to-thrive",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":556,"content":566,"excerpt":660,"featured":51,"reporter":661,"_editable":665,"component":666,"seo_title":543,"categories":667,"visibility":674,"author_company":49,"featured_image":675,"seo_description":660,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":680,"formattedArticleDate":681},"e534db21-6b4f-4a69-9c5c-4208e770479f","2024-10-10 00:00",[550,553],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",{"slug":554,"name":555},"inflation-reduction-act","Inflation Reduction Act",[557],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":560},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":561,"image":562,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":563},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/512x512/14738033ec/matthew-bird.jpeg","Matthew writes, edits and produces content for Benchmark Intelligence and Benchmark Source across the whole mine to grid supply chain. He also acts as a liaison to the press. He has a PhD in electrochemistry from the University of Nottingham.","https://www.linkedin.com/in/birdmatthew/",{"type":567,"content":568},"doc",[569,576,599,612,619,624,635,640,645,650,655],{"type":570,"attrs":571,"content":572},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[573],{"text":574,"type":575},"Western graphite producers and project developers are increasingly pushing for ex-China price premiums as they look to compete with China’s dominance in the industry.","text",{"type":570,"attrs":577,"content":578},{"textAlign":49},[579,581,589,591,597],{"text":580,"type":575},"The calls for an ",{"text":582,"type":575,"marks":583},"ex-China",[584],{"type":585,"attrs":586},"link",{"href":587,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/ex-china-coke-supply-lags-synthetic-graphite-buildout","url",{"text":590,"type":575}," price premium come amid ",{"text":592,"type":575,"marks":593},"growing geopolitical restrictions",[594],{"type":585,"attrs":595},{"href":596,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/graphite-feoc-sourcing-extension-supports-us-battery-expansion-but-highlights-chinas-dominance",{"text":598,"type":575}," set to enter force in the coming years and the ongoing low prices squeezing producers margins and failing to incentivise supply.",{"type":570,"attrs":600,"content":601},{"textAlign":49},[602,604,610],{"text":603,"type":575},"“Market participants outside of China have expressed to Benchmark that they are hoping for a premium to emerge, specifically ",{"text":605,"type":575,"marks":606},"when tariffs start to bite",[607],{"type":585,"attrs":608},{"href":609,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/why-has-the-us-reinstated-tariffs-on-natural-graphite",{"text":611,"type":575}," for graphite shipped from China to the US in 2027. They say the risk with the current price level persisting is it may slow the flow of funding available for ex-China projects to be developed and a resultant failure to bring on sufficient supply to meet Western demand,” said Alex Albinski, analyst at Benchmark. ",{"type":613,"attrs":614,"content":616},"heading",{"level":615,"textAlign":49},4,[617],{"text":618,"type":575},"China’s hold on the graphite supply chain",{"type":570,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":575},"According to Albinski, typical Chinese graphite operations have notably lower cost levels than the largest ex-China operations, making the margins of ex-China operations slimmer. This also brings challenges for miners outside of China to continue production at high cost plants and for developers to secure funding for new projects.",{"type":570,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627,633],{"text":628,"type":575,"marks":629},"Benchmark data shows",[630],{"type":585,"attrs":631},{"href":632,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":588},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/1-6-trillion-investment-needed-in-battery-industry-by-2040",{"text":634,"type":575}," that $5 billion in investments are needed to meet the graphite demand expected by 2030, and $9 billion to close the gap between supply and demand forecast by 2040. ",{"type":613,"attrs":636,"content":637},{"level":615,"textAlign":49},[638],{"text":639,"type":575},"Ex-China supply growth",{"type":570,"attrs":641,"content":642},{"textAlign":49},[643],{"text":644,"type":575},"The growing calls for a price bifurcation comes at a time when market players look for ways to diversify their supplies to meet the US Foreign Entities of Concern (FEOC) requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).",{"type":570,"attrs":646,"content":647},{"textAlign":49},[648],{"text":649,"type":575},"“We are seeing significant development of operations in Africa and elsewhere. A premium would justify the higher capex of ex-China projects that need to be developed if downstream buyers are to comply with FEOC requirements,” said Albinksi.",{"type":570,"attrs":651,"content":652},{"textAlign":49},[653],{"text":654,"type":575},"“We see a handful of project developments in Canada, Brazil, Tanzania and Madagascar. East Africa in particular has demonstrated the potential for more appealing CAPEX and OPEX requirements, which is particularly important to investors given increasingly challenging price movements,” said Albinski.  ",{"type":570,"attrs":656,"content":657},{"textAlign":49},[658],{"text":659,"type":575},"“However, currently announced supply from East Africa alone is likely to be insufficient to fully provide for expected demand in the West, therefore higher cost operations in other regions outside of China will be needed,” he added.","Western graphite producers and project developers are increasingly pushing for ex-China price premiums as they look to compete with China’s dominance in the industry. The calls for an ex-China price premium come amid growing geopolitical restrictions set to enter force in the coming years and the ongoing low prices squeezing producers margins and failing to […]",[662],{"slug":558,"name":559,"content":663},{"job_title":561,"image":664,"bio":564,"linkedin":565},{"filename":563},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"e534db21-6b4f-4a69-9c5c-4208e770479f\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[668,671],{"slug":669,"name":670},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":672,"name":673},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":676,"name":676,"focus":676,"title":676,"source":676,"filename":677,"copyright":676,"fieldtype":678,"meta_data":679,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/abea704b68/bm-priceupdate2.png","asset",{"alt":676,"title":676,"source":676,"copyright":676},"Oct 10, 2024","10th October 2024",[],[],1787071418060]