GLOBAL GRAPHITE SNAPSHOT: Tight supply supports large flake cif Europe prices
By Jon Stibbs, Sybil Pan
Published: Thursday, 27 May 2021
Key data from the graphite pricing sessions in Asia and Europe for the week ended Thursday May 27.
Assessment (in $ per tonne) |
Latest price |
Previous price |
% change |
Graphite flake, 94% C, +100 mesh, cif Europe |
930 |
930 |
0 |
Graphite flake, 94% C, -100 mesh, cif Europe |
605 |
605 |
0 |
Graphite flake, 94% C, +80 mesh, cif Europe |
1,100 |
1,050 |
+4.76 |
Graphite flake, 94% C, +100 mesh, fob China |
830 |
830 |
0 |
Graphite flake, 94% C, -100 mesh, fob China |
510 |
510 |
0 |
Graphite flake, 94% C, +80% mesh, fob China |
1,000 |
1,000 |
0 |
Graphite spherical, 99.95% C, 15 microns, fob China
|
2,350-2,800 |
2,350-2,800 |
0 |
Graphite amorphous, 80% C, -200 mesh, fob China |
350-410 |
350-410 |
0 |
Graphite amorphous, 80-85% C, -200 mesh, cif Europe
|
435-545 |
4345-545 |
0 |
China
- Sentiment for flake graphite in the domestic market
remained firm amid increasing production costs for graphite
flake 94% C, -100 mesh, fob China (-194).
- Prices for large flake graphite - graphite flake,
94% C, +80% mesh, fob China (+894) - were supported by
increased domestic demand for expandable graphite, as well as
supply tightness, with reduced imports from outside of
China.
- Spherical graphite prices held firm amid increasing
costs for hydrofluoric and sulfuric acid, which are used for
spherical graphite purification.
Europe
- The market for +894 strengthened further in
response to high transportation costs and low availability of
material from China, while exporters elsewhere have also
raised their offer prices.
- Producers outside of China have sought to take
advantage of lower transportation costs and increasing supply
to raise their market share and securing offtake agreements,
such as NextSource and Thyssenkrupp
Materials.
- Prices in the -194 market have held up despite
increased supply of material from Syrah Resources, which plans to ramp up production
further.
Following a market consultation, Fastmarkets now
prices the amorphous graphite markets in the third week of
every month. The prices shown here relate to May 20, with the
previous assessment made on April 15.
Graphite flake premium calculator
The Value in Use (VIU) was updated to 4.4% on April 1 for
the second quarter of 2021 from 5% in the first quarter.
Adjustment |
This quarter's VIU |
Previous quarter's VIU |
Quarterly change |
Carbon VIU in % |
4.4 |
5 |
-0.6 |

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."