GLOBAL GRAPHITE SNAPSHOT: Higher flake prices in China lead to surge in cif Europe market

China

• The market for graphite flake 94% C, -100 mesh, fob China, has jumped, with sellers raising their prices in response to tight supply amid the winter shutdown season.
• Meanwhile, suppliers’ inventories have been falling during the winter stockpiling season. Consumption by the spherical graphite sector rose, but market headwinds remained in the refractories sector, according to sources.
• The prices for graphite flake, 94% C, +100 mesh, fob China, and graphite flake, 94% C, +80% mesh, fob China, were stable after recent rises, amid slow demand from the overseas market and supply tightness.
• The amorphous graphite market nudged upward on the high end after more than four months of stability. This could be a result of a slowly growing domestic market, given that downstream consumers tend to stockpile for the winter.

Europe

• There were strong rises on the graphite flake market, led by higher prices driven by China in recent sessions. Tightening supply of material in China for the export market, combined with higher costs, the strength of the yuan against the dollar, and a spike in freight container rates resulted in the market strengthening significantly.
• Container problems on the China-to-Europe route have injected increased uncertainty as well as higher costs into the market, and the problem was likely to continue into December, according to sources.
• Flake producers outside of China were also reported to have begun to increase their prices following the rises from China.
• The amorphous market also ticked upward in response to higher transportation costs from China.

Graphite flake premium calculator

The Value in Use (VIU) was updated to 4.8% on October 1 for the fourth quarter of 2020 from 5% in the third quarter.

The Carbon-VIU measures, in percentage terms, the price value of one extra % of carbon content as reported in the market.

The VIU is calculated using statistical methods and the large amount of prices and data collected by Fastmarkets. The VIU shown is the value implied by the market and not an in-house assessment.

An example of what the Carbon VIU means practically: A published Carbon VIU of 7% means that material with a 95% carbon content is priced by the market, on average, 7% more expensive than 94% carbon content material, assuming other factors are equal.

Likewise, it means that 96% carbon content material would be 7% more expensive than 95% material, and that 97% carbon content material would be 7% more expensive than 96% material or 21% more expensive than 94% carbon.

For more information, to provide feedback on this graphite snapshot or if you would like to contribute to the price discovery process, please contact Jon Stibbs or Sybil Pan by email at: pricing@indmin.com. Please add the subject heading "FAO: Jon Stibbs/Sybil Pan - graphite."