There is going to be a supply problem in the natural graphite...

There is going to be a supply problem in the natural graphite market possibly by 2023. EV and battery storage is the major demand and pollution is just too toxic in many cities across China, South Korea and India to slow this trend. The large flakes & expandable graphite building materials market is part of the graphite production cycle.

The main push used to get manufacturing jobs back from China is the use of more robots and less workers in new factories
Robots parts may also use graphite for composite materials or steel to improve performance, eg prevention of overheating or lubrication.

Even if existing graphite production looks good; new mines need finance and construction in about 2020 to create a good supply chain.

Sure, there are investment risk factors that may delay TON. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. My opinion is that Chinese companies seek to maintain leadership in manufacturing value added products & investing in graphite mines or off take partners outside of China can help.

Artificial graphite is more expensive to produce and believe it is mostly made from the byproduct of crude oil refining. If crude oil instability affects price and supply long term; it can possibly affect graphite rods (produced mostly by India lately) that are now used in the new less polluting electric arc furnaces producing steel in both China and India. Hence, as artificial graphite is too hard to ensure physical property of customers quality standards in battery and expandable graphite materials, and can lead to long term demand of natural graphite in a world with less reliable petroleum refining products.

No investment advice intended, and there are risks graphite demand or use in future, or even less steel used in construction. Anything is possible. It is easy to be negative about the future and the unknown.

There is also a supply crunch due in many African cities soon due to population growth adding to the need for expandable graphite building materials.