Africa could overtake China as the world’s largest producer of natural graphite for lithium ion batteries as soon as 2026, according to Benchmark, in a sign of the continent’s growing importance to the electric vehicle supply chain.
Benchmark forecasts Africa to increase its share of global graphite production from 15% in 2021 to 40% in 2026. In contrast, China is set to fall from 68% to 35%, according to Benchmark’s Flake Graphite Forecast.
The increased supply from Africa could help diversify global battery supply chains, if processing capacity is built outside of China. At the end of . . .