Tirupati Graphite says potential underlined by new report

Tirupati Graphite has noted a recent report by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) on global graphite producers which highlights the strength of its position in this market.

BMI notes that China currently dominates today's supply chain, but supply being developed globally is expected to shift this balance.

By 2030 more production will have come on stream outside of China including in North America, Africa and Australia.

Importantly for Tirupati, Africa is set to become a key producer of natural flake graphite with the continent forecast to produce an estimated 38% of the world's mined supply by 2030.  

The top three producing nations by 2030 in the world are expected to be China, Mozambique, and Madagascar - overlapping significantly with Tirupati's footprint in Mozambique and Madagascar. 

BMI forecasts that global demand for natural graphite-derived anode material for use in lithium-ion batteries alone will be 1.2 million tonnes in 2030, compared to 255,000 tonnes consumed in 2023.

“It is important to note that for the manufacture of 1.2 million tonnes of natural graphite-based active anode material as forecast, circa 2.5 million tonnes of below 100 mesh flake graphite with 94-96% purity will be required as input material and the company's projects in Mozambique host a higher proportion of this type of flake graphite," Tirupati noted.

Shishir Poddar, Tirupati’s executive chairman, commented: “With extremely limited production outside of China, western governments and international OEMs are keen to see new sources come on stream, but with significant demand growth forecast we believe that prices will rise significantly in coming years to incentivise additional capacity creation.

“Our current and future operations in Mozambique and Madagascar will be at the centre of one of the key regions of future graphite production.”