The fundamentals are booming. It's the geopolitics which is hurting SYR atm. Internally, China can produce all the synthetic graphite they require but need to rely upon fines flake graphite imports to meet a normal natural/synthetic blend. It looks to me as China is manipulating the blend solely on the basis of not having to import too much fines graphite.

Looking at the chart below of their EV sales, under normal market conditions, Balama would be at full production. The growth in EV sales since 2020 is nothing short of stunning. The graphite required to meet current volumes is huge.

A Whole 43% Of China's New Cars Were Plug-Ins In March 2024

The rechargeable car market expanded by 29% year-over-year to almost 750,000
Plug-in electric car sales noted a healthy growth rate in March, while the market share exceeded 40% and is heading towards 50%, which might be reached later this year. According to EV Volumes' data, shared by researcher Jose Pontes, roughly 743,000 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in China in March, 29% more than a year ago. That's about 43% of the total market—a significant improvement compared to 34% a year ago.

The Chinese plug-in electric car market is not only the largest one in the world, but it also represents the majority of global plug-in car sales. The share of rechargeable cars in China in 2023 amounted to 37% (compared to 30% in 2022).

In March, all-electric car registrations increased by 16% year over year to roughly 476,000, representing about 28% of the country's total volume and 64% of all plug-ins.

The big thing is the fast growth of the plug-in hybrid segment, which expanded by 62% year-over-year to roughly 268,000.

Plug-in car registrations for the month (YOY change):

• BEVs: about *476,000 (up 16%) and 28% market share
• PHEVs: about *268,000 (up 62%) and 15% market share
• Total: 743,289 (up 29%) and 43% market share

* estimated from the market share

Plug-in electric car sales in China – March 2024

During the first three months of the year, more than 1.8 million new plug-in electric cars were registered in China (up roughly 36% year-over-year). That's about 39% of the total car market.

Plug-in car registrations in January-March (YOY change):

• BEVs: about *1.14 million and 26% market share
• PHEVs: about *0.71 million and 13% market share
• Total: 1,868,452 (up 36%) and 39% market share

* estimated from the market share

For reference,in 2023, more than 8 million new plug-in electric cars were registered in China (up roughly 46% year-over-year). It was about 37% of the total volume (compared to 30% in 2022, 15% in 2021 and 6.3% in 2020).

As we wrote previously, considering the year's strong start, 2024 should be even better, most likely above 10 million units.

https://insideevs.com/news/718089/china-plugin-car-sales-march2024/