Global Natural Graphite Market: Expansion Of High-Tech Industries In China Leads The Increase In Consumption

IndexBox has just published a new report "World - Graphite (Natural) - Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights". Here is a summary of the report's key findings.

In 2017, the global natural graphite market amounted to 1.3M tonnes, rising by 6.6% against 2016. Market volume increased with an average annual rate +0.8% over the period from 2007 to 2017. The market expansion is driven mostly by the rise in lithium-ion battery consumption and the growth of the demand for industrial applications.

As estimated by IndexBox, the market value has increased substantially from 2007 reaching $1.2B in 2017, with the revenue growth constrained by low and stable prices and slow demand. This figure reflects the total revenues of producers and importers (excluding logistics costs, retail marketing costs, and retailers' margins, which will be included in the final consumer price).

Over 40% of natural graphite production volume is being exported

Production reached 1.2M tonnes in 2017, gaining +2.8% against 2016. Overall, the production volume has had a growth rate of +0.7% per year over the last decade. The production volumes have been stagnant since 2012 and have shown weak or moderate growth overall. China (775K tonnes) and India (182K tonnes) cumulatively produce 79% of the global supply of the natural graphite.

Previously, the majority of produced graphite was exported, but over the last five years, the intensity of trade of natural graphite decreased dramatically – the share of exports in terms of global production fell from 73% in 2007 to 41% in 2017. These shifts in global trade had happened majorly due to the expansion of the new electric cars production sector, as well as other high-tech industries in China and across Asia. Overall, exports have been decreasing since 2007 by -4.9% per year on average. This decrease reflects declining supplies from China; despite that, China remains the dominant graphite exporter in the world.

Natural graphite consumption globally is expected to accelerate

The natural graphite consumption in the medium term would largely depend on the development of the industrial applications market. These mostly include refractories, foundries, lubricants, and lithium-ion batteries (LIB). The global demand for refractories shows few signs of falling. It is rather expected to gradually appreciate in the following 5-7 years led by global population increase by 7% by 2025 and the associated industrial expansion. However, it can be limited by relatively slow economic growth in the emerging Asian economies. According to IMF, the Chinese economy is expected to slow down to 6.2% annual growth rate in 2019 from 6.9% in 2017, reflecting the trade war expectations. China, India, and Japan cumulatively comprise almost 70% of global consumption. Therefore, the development of Asian industries has a major direct impact on the growing trend for the graphite industry.

Li-ion batteries are expected to drive the natural graphite market expansion. Graphite is heat and corrosion resistant and therefore is highly valuable for the LIB production. LIBs are mainly used for stationary storage and electric vehicles. Electric vehicle market growth is expected to appreciate in the medium and long-term, as the population majorly in developed countries would be switching from fuel to electric cars.

Thus, driven by increasing demand for graphite worldwide, the market is expected to continue an upward consumption trend over the next eight year period. Market performance is forecast to improve the trend pattern, expanding with an anticipated CAGR of +1.4% for the eight-year period from 2017 to 2025 (IndexBox's projection), which is projected to bring the market volume to 1.5M tonnes by the end of 2025.

Do you want to know more about global natural graphite market? Get the latest trends and insight from our report. It includes a wide range of statistics on:

• natural graphite market share
• natural graphite prices
• natural graphite industry
• natural graphite sales
• natural graphite import
• natural graphite export
• natural graphite market forecast
• natural graphite price forecast
• key natural graphite producers

All data provided in this article covers the following product: HS 2504 - Graphite

Source: IndexBox AI Platform