redgum, Syrah is not the only mine that has opened or expanded...

redgum, Syrah is not the only mine that has opened or expanded in last year or so. You must include new graphite capacity coming from Madagascar and Namibia and the fact there is excess graphite capacity in Brazil and Canada due to lack of sales. When capacity is greater than demand graphite mines must offer bigger discounts. I would never assume that Syrah's "off take agreements presumably done at a price that suits the supplier Syrah." The graphite market prices are base on supply vs demand and as long as supply is in excess of demand the buyers have the ability to demand bigger discounts. Syrah needs to urgently sell volume and establish a market and as cartex reports, this takes time and requires the seller to offer bigger discounts.