Special Graphite Market - Strategic Insights and Forecasts (2024-2029)

The special graphite market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.24% during the forecast period (2024-2029).

Key Highlights:

The main factor driving the special graphite market is the increasing demand from industries such as automotive, electronics, consumer goods, photovoltaic, etc. Industrial uses of graphite in the field of renewable energy are expanding. Batteries are needed in the renewable sector for storing clean energy from solar and wind power. The fast-growing sector of the graphite market is providing components for the solar and wind industries and battery usage. The latest exploration of the green energy sector is hydrogen fuel cells, which need graphite for some of their critical components. The graphite market is supplying necessary hydrogen fuel cell components.

• The pure graphite electrodes are used for the deposition of highly pure polysilicon. High-purity graphite foil and sheets are used for heat shields, insulation materials, flexible release layers, and sealing materials.

• New developments are further expanding the market growth,  like leading companies in June 2023,  LG Energy Solution, and NOVONIX, agreeing to US$30 million. It is for the Joint Research and Development Agreement (“JDA”) regarding the purchase of 50,000 tons of the anode material from NOVONIX’s United States-based facility over 10 years from the start of mass production. NOVONIX would provide a sustainable supply chain option for artificial graphite in North America. Similarly, in April 2024, Graphite One engages Digitonic for investor relations and marketing campaigns according to the strategy to raise its profile.

Special Graphite Market Drivers:

• Growing demand for Electric Vehicles

The demand for electric vehicles has been soaring for the last few years. With design improvement, favorable policy changes, reforms, and growing concern for carbon dioxide emissions, the need for batteries for electric vehicles will increase in the upcoming years. The sales of battery electric vehicle cars worldwide in 2021 were 4,700,000, which expanded to 7,300,000 in 2022 and 9,500,000 in 2023. These numbers for the battery electric vehicles segment vans were 170,000 in 2022, 310,000 in 2022, and 460,000 in 2023. The substantial positive demand aligns with the ambitious government goals for carbon emission targets.

• Expanding electronic devices market

The demand for electronic devices is rising with the digitalization of communication and data storage. The need for more devices in various segments of life has created the demand for graphite as it is used in the batteries of the devices. Globally, 78% of the world's population owns a mobile phone, 88% in the region of the Americas, 75% in the Asia-Pacific, and 93% in Europe. These figures show the importance of mobile devices in people’s lives.

Additionally, a significant number of businesses use Information and Communication Technology access tools in their work. 77.52% of businesses in OECD countries had access to these tools, and similarly, 78.10% in the European Union (27 countries) had these tools since 2023. These numbers give importance to electronic devices in individual and business lives.

• Increasing renewable energy demand.

According to the International Energy Agency, the renewable power capacity additions will expand in the coming years, with solar PV and wind accounting for a record 96%. According to the data, solar PV was 374.9 GW in 2023 and is projected to reach 539.6 GW in 2028. Similarly, the wind power is projected to be 107.8 GW in 2023 and is projected to reach 167.3 GW in 2028.

These developments would require batteries for storage, which would increase the sector's need for special graphite. The demand for special graphite will increase in the coming years to provide components for the energy markets and to store renewable energy.

Special Graphite Market Geographical Outlook:

• The North American region is expected to dominate the special graphite market during the forecast period.

The North American region contributes 18.76% of GDP based on PPP, the share of the world, with a population of 513.43 million. This massive contribution to the global economy is due to the developed economies of the United States and Canada. The United States and Canada's developed economies demand electronic goods and the renewable energy market segment. The renewable energy sector has a demand for battery storage capacity, especially for solar and wind. The United States is in a continuous expansion plan for Solar PV, the country has 20.1 GW capacity in 2022, which increased to 27.2 GW in 2023, and is expected to be 31 GW in 2024. The country has included new funding for solar PV in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

Canada showed an increase in the sales of battery electric vehicles from 91,000 in 2022 to 130,000 in 2023. Similarly, the USA showed an increase in demand from 800,000 battery electric vehicles in 2022 to 1,100,000 in 2023. The demand for these electric vehicles comes with the demand for graphite that is used in the electric batteries.

Further, the leading players are establishing manufacturing plants in the region to meet the growing demand. In March 2024, Graphite One Inc. announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Graphite One (Alaska), Inc., selected Ohio’s “Voltage Valley” as the site of the Company’s graphite anode manufacturing plant. It entered into a land lease agreement for a 50-year term. It is expected that G1 AK’s Ohio facility would manufacture synthetic graphite anode active materials.

Special Graphite Market Restraints:

• The over-dependence of critical minerals like graphite in China could lead to vulnerability to supply shocks. This level of over-dependence puts economic stability at risk and raises concerns for environmental sustainability. The cost competitiveness and scale of the industry needed to be managed in a manner for diversification and easy availability.

Special Graphite Market Key Developments:

• In February 2024, Imerys strategically invests in the lithium-ion battery market. As per their plan, a new production line of carbon black was commissioned for Mobile Energy at Willebroek (Belgium) in 2023. The construction of one was underway. In Q4 2023, a capacity expansion for synthetic graphite production in Bodio (Switzerland) was underway.

• In February 2024, Solidion Technology, Inc. has years of experience in sustainable mass-manufacturing green graphite anode materials from biomass cost-effectively. Their R&D gives them a position in the EV battery materials market, which is rapidly changing. Solidion planned to have a graphite production facility in the United States with 10,000 metric tons per annum (MTA) capacity by 2026.

They envisioned expanding it to ~180,000 MTA by 2030 to meet the growing demand. This facility would primarily source raw materials from biomass. This development is in response to the burgeoning demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESS) battery capacities.

• In January 2024, Lomiko Metals Inc. announced it had completed half-cell coin battery testing of its La Loutre graphite material with Polaris Battery Labs, LLC. Polaris prepared La Loutre’s coated spherical purified graphite (cSPG) material by the flotation concentrate samples to determine the basic material electrochemical performance metrics. The total mass of the cSPG is 160g.

• In July 2023, Mersen, a leading company in advanced materials, inaugurated a graphite manufacturing plant in the Columbia Site in the United States. It is of the size of  240,000 Square Meters, currently employs 80 people, and is set to expand in people and capacity. It could have a capacity of 4,000 tons of extruded graphite and 2,000 tons of isostatic graphite per year. The company planned to expand to 16,000 tons of graphite manufacturing capacity by the end of 2024.

• In June 2023, NextSource Materials Inc. announced the production of SuperFlake® graphite concentrate at its Molo mine in Madagascar. The company has become a sustainable producer of high-quality graphite and anode material as the demand for lithium-ion batteries grows due to the increasing demand for EVs.

The company initiated the production of +48 mesh (jumbo size) SuperFlake® graphite. It planned to make multiple Battery Anode Facilities (BAFs) for use in lithium-ion batteries for EV applications. The first BAF will be in Mauritius (the “Mauritius BAF”), and there are plans to establish BAFs in the European Union, the United Kingdom, North America, and other countries.

List of Top Special Graphite Companies:

• Xuran New Materials Limited 

• Toyo Tanso Co., Ltd. 

• SGL Carbon

• Northern Graphite

• EcoGraf

Special Graphite Market Scope: 

Special Graphite Market Segmentation:

• By Type

  • Isostatic Graphite

  • Molded Graphite

  • Extruded Graphite

  • Vibrated Graphite

• By End-Users Industry

  • Photovoltaic Industry

  • Electronic And Electrical Devices

  • Electric Vehicle Industry

  • Others

• By Geography

  • North America

    • USA

    • Canada

    • Mexico

  • South America

    • Brazil

    • Argentina

    • Rest of South America

  • Europe

    • United Kingdom

    • Germany

    • France

    • Italy

    • Spain

    • Rest of Europe

  • Middle East and Africa

    • Saudi Arabia

    • UAE

    • Rest of the Middle East and Africa

  • Asia Pacific

    • China

    • India

    • Japan

    • South Korea

    • Taiwan

    • Thailand

    • Indonesia

    • Rest of Asia-Pacific