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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":696,"relatedVideos":697},112468660163287,"7508e6cb-052c-482e-b1aa-5fe6ad511beb","Ex-China needle coke shortage could hold back anode buildout ","ex-china-needle-coke-shortage-could-hold-back-anode-buildout","article/ex-china-needle-coke-shortage-could-hold-back-anode-buildout",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":562,"content":572,"excerpt":669,"featured":51,"reporter":670,"_editable":674,"component":675,"seo_title":543,"categories":676,"visibility":688,"author_company":49,"featured_image":689,"seo_description":669,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":694,"formattedArticleDate":695},"fd2fd68b-ea11-4611-9286-019ee312d391","2024-10-29 00:00",[550,553,556,559],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",{"slug":554,"name":555},"feoc","FEOC",{"slug":557,"name":558},"inflation-reduction-act","Inflation Reduction Act",{"slug":560,"name":561},"policy","Policy",[563],{"slug":564,"name":565,"content":566},"matthew-bird","Matthew Bird",{"job_title":567,"image":568,"bio":570,"linkedin":571},"Senior Editor - Supply Chains & Data Visualisation",{"filename":569},"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":573,"content":574},"doc",[575,582,597,602,607,612,619,624,629,634,639,644,649,654,659,664],{"type":576,"attrs":577,"content":578},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[579],{"text":580,"type":581},"China is set to grow its global dominance in needle coke whilst investment into Western capacity stalls, threatening to leave automakers short of Inflation Reduction Act-compliant synthetic anode material.  ","text",{"type":576,"attrs":583,"content":584},{"textAlign":49},[585,587,595],{"text":586,"type":581},"In 2024, China is forecast to produce 52% of the world’s supply in needle coke, a synthetic graphite anode material feedstock. This will grow to 68% in 2030, according to the ",{"text":588,"type":581,"marks":589},"Benchmark Synthetic Graphite Forecast",[590],{"type":591,"attrs":592},"link",{"href":593,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":594},"https://www.benchmarkminerals.com/synthetic-graphite/data-reports/forecast","url",{"text":596,"type":581},". ",{"type":576,"attrs":598,"content":599},{"textAlign":49},[600],{"text":601,"type":581},"Chinese-owned needle coke supply is set to double between 2024 and 2034, whilst ex-China supply will only grow at 2.4% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).",{"type":576,"attrs":603,"content":604},{"textAlign":49},[605],{"text":606,"type":581},"Needle coke has conventionally been the primary feedstock to make synthetic graphite anode materials. Despite this, and the critical mineral status of synthetic graphite in both the EU and the US, there has been little investment into new capacity.",{"type":576,"attrs":608,"content":609},{"textAlign":49},[610],{"text":611,"type":581},"“There are technological barriers to break into the market and the low price environment today is difficult to incentivise new investment,” said Benchmark Senior Graphite Analyst Yuan Gu.",{"type":613,"attrs":614,"content":616},"heading",{"level":615,"textAlign":49},4,[617],{"text":618,"type":581},"What are the main concerns? ",{"type":576,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":581},"The lack of ex-China needle coke could put pressure on Western automakers, as well as any automakers looking to sell into the US market, due to sourcing criteria under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). ",{"type":576,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627],{"text":628,"type":581},"Needle coke made in China counts as supply from a Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) under the US IRA. EVs whose batteries contain it will eventually not qualify for IRA tax credits.",{"type":576,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632],{"text":633,"type":581},"However, FEOC-compliant needle coke, the West’s preferred synthetic anode material feedstock, is not keeping pace with the ex-China synthetic anode capacity buildout.",{"type":613,"attrs":635,"content":636},{"level":615,"textAlign":49},[637],{"text":638,"type":581},"When could we start seeing a supply gap?",{"type":576,"attrs":640,"content":641},{"textAlign":49},[642],{"text":643,"type":581},"The issue of a non-FEOC supply gap has been deferred for now thanks to the US government’s temporary waiver on IRA restrictions for synthetic graphite sourcing until 2027.",{"type":576,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":581},"Until that time, automakers selling EVs on the US market can earn IRA credits even if they source synthetic graphite from Chinese supply chains. This is meant to buy time for more ex-China, non-FEOC needle coke and synthetic graphite anode capacity to develop.",{"type":576,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":581},"Yet a continued lack of investments makes it likely that ex-China synthetic graphite producers will still find themselves short of IRA-compliant feedstock after 2027. ",{"type":613,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"level":615,"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":581},"Why isn’t there enough investment into needle coke? ",{"type":576,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662],{"text":663,"type":581},"Prices are currently too low to incentivise new investments into needle coke capacity, which costs a lot more to make than low sulphur pet coke. ",{"type":576,"attrs":665,"content":666},{"textAlign":49},[667],{"text":668,"type":581},"“Oil based needle coke is a byproduct of oil refining and coal based needle coke is made from coal tar. Growth in petroleum needle coke is capped with global oil refining capacity. The cost of coal tar is too expensive to make coal based needle coke. On top of that, needle coke processing outside of China is a proprietary technology owned by a limited number of producers,” said Gu. ","China is set to grow its global dominance in needle coke whilst investment into Western capacity stalls, threatening to leave automakers short of Inflation Reduction Act-compliant synthetic anode material. In 2024, China is forecast to produce 52% of the world’s supply in needle coke, a synthetic graphite anode material feedstock. This will grow to 68% […]",[671],{"slug":564,"name":565,"content":672},{"job_title":567,"image":673,"bio":570,"linkedin":571},{"filename":569},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"fd2fd68b-ea11-4611-9286-019ee312d391\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[677,679,682,685],{"slug":678,"name":261},"anode",{"slug":680,"name":681},"batteries","Batteries",{"slug":683,"name":684},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":686,"name":687},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":690,"name":690,"focus":690,"title":690,"source":690,"filename":691,"copyright":690,"fieldtype":692,"meta_data":693,"is_external_url":51},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/33ab12e6cc/bm-anode-picture-from-tony.jpg","asset",{"alt":690,"title":690,"source":690,"copyright":690},"Oct 29, 2024","29th October 2024",[],[],1780670059574]