Resumen de Graphite consolidation raised again in China
China's emphasis on value addition to its natural graphite products has expanded the country's spherical graphite sector, with 2015 exports of coated spherical graphite gaining by 117% year-on year (y-o-y) to reach 3,976 tonnes.
In the fourth quarter of 2015, Chinese exports of spherical graphite were up more than 40% over Q4 2014, at 6,811 tonnes. This still 12.6% lower than Q3 2011, which holds the record for spherical graphite export volumes from China.
Excess supply saw exports of spherical graphite slip by 16% overall throughout 2015, since the decline in shipments of uncoated material, which represents the vast majority of the market volume, outweighed gains in coated material. However, the growth in Chinese exports of coated spherical graphite illustrates the rising importance of this area of the market in driving future flake graphite demand.
