Graphite Supply Needs to Increase Nearly 500 Percent by 2050LINK
https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/battery-metals-investing/graphite-investing/graphite-supply-needs-increase/#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20new%20World,to%20meet%20energy%20storage%20demand. Extract from text
According to a new World Bank report, graphite output needs to jump by nearly 500 percent by 2050 to meet energy storage demand. The energy revolution and the push for lower carbon emissions are unstoppable trends that will continue to unfold in the coming decades.
Demand for energy storage is expected to be so high that production of key battery metals such as graphite will need to ramp up to unprecedented levels.
According to a new World Bank report, just to meet the increasing demand from this segment, graphite output will need to jump by nearly 500 percent by 2050.
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Graphite demand increases in both absolute and percentage terms since it is needed to build the anodes found in automotive, grid and decentralized batteries.
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“About 4.5 million tons of graphite is needed to be produced annually by 2050, or a cumulative of 68 million tons, while graphite demand increases by nearly 500 percent from 2018 production figures, demonstrating the critical role graphite plays in the clean energy transition,” the report says.
Among many battery experts, the view is that lithium-ion batteries will dominate the battery sector in the next decade, and that is also the World Bank’s perspective. Lithium-ion batteries also need other essential minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.
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As time goes on, more market space will be available for new battery technologies, with different mineral requirements, in particular post-2030.
As a result, concentrated metals such as graphite have the highest level of demand risk.
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Commenting on the supply side of graphite, the report notes that more than 60 percent of output comes from China, which creates a supply risk for its high concentration.