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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":715,"relatedVideos":716},112472313719897,"8c9b3eb8-f504-4780-aed1-a8727c7c0d5e","Graphite inventories in China shrink ahead of winter shutdowns","graphite-inventories-in-china-shrink-ahead-of-winter-shutdowns","article/graphite-inventories-in-china-shrink-ahead-of-winter-shutdowns",{"_uid":547,"date":548,"tags":549,"editor":553,"content":563,"excerpt":694,"featured":51,"reporter":695,"_editable":699,"component":700,"seo_title":543,"categories":701,"visibility":708,"author_company":49,"featured_image":709,"seo_description":694,"author_full_name":49,"author_job_title":49,"formattedDate":713,"formattedArticleDate":714},"46ccbf89-3636-4ddc-a0c7-0c32bb78a198","2022-10-28 00:00",[550],{"slug":551,"name":552},"china","China",[554],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":557},"didi-bostock","Didi Bostock",{"job_title":558,"image":559,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},"Editor - Energy Transition & Economics",{"filename":560},"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":564,"content":565},"doc",[566,573,578,583,588,593,598,603,612,619,624,629,634,639,644,649,654,659,674,679,684,689],{"type":567,"attrs":568,"content":569},"paragraph",{"textAlign":49},[570],{"text":571,"type":572},"Chinese inventories of natural graphite are at unseasonably low levels, ahead of the winter season when production in Heiliongjiang shuts down due to cold temperatures, raising concerns about shortages of the critical battery anode feedstock material.","text",{"type":567,"attrs":574,"content":575},{"textAlign":49},[576],{"text":577,"type":572},"The industry normally has inventories of up to four or five months in the run up to the winter but industry sources have reported to Benchmark that these have fallen to just two months this time of the year.",{"type":567,"attrs":579,"content":580},{"textAlign":49},[581],{"text":582,"type":572},"The lack of inventories has been driven by extensive government environmental inspections in China’s Heilongjiang province earlier this year, shortening the operating season in 2022 and delaying a ramp up in production capacity against surging electric vehicle demand.",{"type":567,"attrs":584,"content":585},{"textAlign":49},[586],{"text":587,"type":572},"“There seems to be a storm brewing, depending on how high demand gets and how tight the supply this winter turns out to be,” Daisy Jennings-Gray, an analyst at Benchmark, said.",{"type":567,"attrs":589,"content":590},{"textAlign":49},[591],{"text":592,"type":572},"Prices for  94-95% C, -100 mesh flake material graphite have risen by 19% this year, due to increased demand from the electric vehicle industry for finer mesh material, according to Benchmark’s Graphite Price Assessment.",{"type":567,"attrs":594,"content":595},{"textAlign":49},[596],{"text":597,"type":572},"In September, prices for this higher purity -100 mesh saw a marginal increase of 0.7% m-o-m to an average of $770/tonne (FOB China), according to Benchmark.",{"type":567,"attrs":599,"content":600},{"textAlign":49},[601],{"text":602,"type":572},"In the Chinese domestic market, the price for 94-95% C, -100 mesh flake increased by 3.8% m-o-m to an average of RMB 5,450/tonne ($751) (DDP China).",{"type":567,"attrs":604,"content":605},{"textAlign":49},[606],{"type":607,"attrs":608},"image",{"id":49,"alt":609,"src":610,"title":49,"source":49,"copyright":49,"meta_data":611},"","https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/f6a52c0791/bm-graphite-winter-shortages.png",{},{"type":613,"attrs":614,"content":616},"heading",{"level":615,"textAlign":49},4,[617],{"text":618,"type":572},"China turns to Africa",{"type":567,"attrs":620,"content":621},{"textAlign":49},[622],{"text":623,"type":572},"Imports of graphite from Africa have been picking up into China, indicating that domestic supply alone is struggling to keep up with rising anode demand. China saw a near record volume of flake graphite imports from Mozambique in August, which rose nearly three-fold from July, to 14,262 tonnes.",{"type":567,"attrs":625,"content":626},{"textAlign":49},[627],{"text":628,"type":572},"Australia’s graphite producer Syrah Resources said this month that there was “very strong demand and forward contracting” with end-users for their own product ahead of this winter period, with almost 70,000 tonnes of forward sales orders.",{"type":567,"attrs":630,"content":631},{"textAlign":49},[632],{"text":633,"type":572},"Imports from Mozambique and Madagascar are “are likely to be required to satisfy demand ahead of the winter period of lower Chinese production,” the company’s chief executive Shaun Verner, said.",{"type":567,"attrs":635,"content":636},{"textAlign":49},[637],{"text":638,"type":572},"The company said this week that it had restarted production at its Balama Graphite Operation in Mozambique weeks after halting operations due to “illegal industrial action.” The mine produced 38,000 tonnes of natural graphite in the third quarter, down from 44,000 tonnes in the previous quarter due to the shutdown.",{"type":613,"attrs":640,"content":641},{"level":615,"textAlign":49},[642],{"text":643,"type":572},"All roads lead to Heilongjiang ",{"type":567,"attrs":645,"content":646},{"textAlign":49},[647],{"text":648,"type":572},"China’s Heilongjiang province is the country’s largest graphite producing region and mines the bulk of global graphite supply. Heilongjiang alone mined 615,000 tonnes of flake graphite in 2021, or about 58% of the global supply, according to Benchmark’s Flake Graphite Forecast.",{"type":567,"attrs":650,"content":651},{"textAlign":49},[652],{"text":653,"type":572},"The area is also seeing continued investment into graphite projects. In September anode producer BTR said it would construct a RMB 1.8 billion ($253 million) flake graphite project in Heilongjiang, with plans to produce 400,000 tonnes a year of natural flake graphite concentrate.",{"type":567,"attrs":655,"content":656},{"textAlign":49},[657],{"text":658,"type":572},"But the government has been tightening environmental inspections at graphite operations in the province, which impacted production earlier this year, prolonging the return to mining following the winter period.",{"type":567,"attrs":660,"content":661},{"textAlign":49},[662,664,672],{"text":663,"type":572},"Last month, Benchmark ",{"text":665,"type":572,"marks":666},"reported",[667],{"type":668,"attrs":669},"link",{"href":670,"uuid":49,"anchor":49,"target":49,"linktype":671},"https://source.benchmarkminerals.com/article/natural-graphite-prices-ease-from-eight-year-high-as-chinas-economy-cools/","url",{"text":673,"type":572}," that follow-up inspections may continue to impact natural graphite producers in Luobei county, Heilongjiang province, throughout September, which could lead to a restricted production as seen in the first half of the year.",{"type":567,"attrs":675,"content":676},{"textAlign":49},[677],{"text":678,"type":572},"“Availability of domestic supply is set to be much worse this winter, as a lot of the mines started up quite late due to a number of environmental inspections that lasted beyond last winter,” Jennings-Gray said.",{"type":567,"attrs":680,"content":681},{"textAlign":49},[682],{"text":683,"type":572},"As the region’s seasonal supply wanes and demand from the lithium ion value chain typically peaks, anode producers are becoming concerned about the availability of flake supply in the fourth quarter, according to Benchmark.",{"type":567,"attrs":685,"content":686},{"textAlign":49},[687],{"text":688,"type":572},"Moreover, demand is set to exceed normal seasonal uplift given Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers are accelerating production ahead of the discontinuation of China’s electric vehicle subsidies in January.",{"type":567,"attrs":690,"content":691},{"textAlign":49},[692],{"text":693,"type":572},"In September electric vehicle production and sales figures in China continued to break monthly records, both surpassing the 700,000 threshold for the first time.","Chinese inventories of natural graphite are at unseasonably low levels, ahead of the winter season when production in Heiliongjiang shuts down due to cold temperatures, raising concerns about shortages of the critical battery anode feedstock material. The industry normally has inventories of up to four or five months in the run up to the winter […]",[696],{"slug":555,"name":556,"content":697},{"job_title":558,"image":698,"bio":561,"linkedin":562},{"filename":560},"\u003C!--#storyblok#{\"name\": \"article\", \"space\": \"\", \"uid\": \"46ccbf89-3636-4ddc-a0c7-0c32bb78a198\", \"id\": \"\"}-->","article",[702,705],{"slug":703,"name":704},"critical-minerals","Critical Minerals",{"slug":706,"name":707},"graphite","Graphite","private",{"id":49,"alt":609,"name":609,"focus":609,"title":609,"source":609,"filename":710,"copyright":609,"fieldtype":711,"meta_data":712,"is_external_url":51},"https://a.storyblok.com/f/287943243085208/6c61409a77/bm-graphite-china-esg-1.jpg","asset",{"alt":609,"title":609,"source":609,"copyright":609},"Oct 28, 2022","28th October 2022",[],[],1782746840323]