Chinese inventories of natural graphite are at unseasonably low levels, ahead of the winter season when production in Heiliongjiang shuts down due to cold temperatures, raising concerns about shortages of the critical battery anode feedstock material.
The industry normally has inventories of up to four or five months in the run up to the winter but industry sources have reported to Benchmark that these have fallen to just two months this time of the year.
The lack of inventories has been driven by extensive government environmental inspections in China’s Heilongjiang province earlier this year, shortening the operating season in . . .
