China is leading efforts to deliver an almost threefold increase in global graphite processing capacity by 2020, to meet mushrooming lithium-ion battery industry demand.

The Chinese firms Shanshan Technology, BTR New Energy Materials and LuiMao Graphite (in association with BAIC Automotive Group) are building lithium-ion battery graphite anode megafactories with a total processing capacity of 260,000 metric tons per year. 

Hitachi Chemical, in Japan, is planning another facility to process 100,000 metric tons of graphite a year. The increases compare to a total estimated global processing capacity of around 200,000 metric tons at present.