Metals & Mining Theme, Non-Ferrous

February 27, 2024

Platts proposes to launch daily natural flake, spherical graphite price assessments

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, is proposing to publish daily natural flake graphite and spherical graphite spot price assessments on an FOB China and a CIF Northeast Asia basis, effective March 18.

The proposal is in response to industry demand for greater price transparency in the graphite spot market, in view of graphite's importance in electric vehicle batteries.

Graphite, which plays a critical role in the electric vehicle supply chain, is used as the anode in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries and comprises about a quarter of a battery's volume.

Global battery electric vehicle sales are forecast to grow 40% to 13.3 million units in 2024, according to S&P Global Mobility, implying greater demand for graphite.

The locational bases of the assessments proposed reflect China's role as the largest producer and exporter of graphite, and that of Japan and South Korea as among the two largest importers globally.

The launch of graphite assessments would complement Platts existing suite of daily battery metals and black mass price assessments.

The proposed assessments would have the following specifications:  

Assessment Name Frequency Quality Volume Dimensions Incoterms Location Timing Payment Terms Unit of Measurement
Flake Graphite FOB China Daily 94%-95% Carbon, -100 Mesh Minimum 20 mt Powder packed in bags FOB Qingdao, China Loading within 30 days LC at sight $/mt
Flake Graphite CIF Northeast Asia Daily 94%-95% Carbon, -100 Mesh Minimum 20 mt Powder packed in bags CIF Northeast Asia normalized to Japan main ports Arriving 15-60 days forward LC at sight $/mt
Spherical Graphite FOB China Daily 99.95% Carbon, 15 microns, uncoated Minimum 20 mt Powder packed in bags FOB Qingdao, China Loading within 30 days LC at sight $/mt
Spherical Graphite CIF Northeast Asia Daily 99.95% Carbon, 15 microns, uncoated Minimum 20 mt Powder packed in bags CIF Northeast Asia normalized to Japan main ports Arriving 15-60 days forward LC at sight $/mt

Platts would additionally publish monthly averages of the daily price assessments.

Platts spot price assessments consider market information reported to Platts and published throughout the day, including firm bids and offers, transactions and indications.

Other data deemed relevant to the assessment process may also be normalized to Platts specifications based on price differentials prevailing in the market.

Market information received up to 4:30pm Singapore timestamp would be considered for the daily assessments.

A full description of Platts assessments methodology and data hierarchy can be found here.

The assessments would be published on Platts Connect, Platts Market Center, Platts Metals Daily, Platts Nonferrous Metals Alert and in the Platts price database.

Platts invites feedback on this proposal to battery_metals@spglobal.com and pricegroup@spglobal.com by March 7.

For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing.

Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.