Natural graphite

Primary uses. lithium-ion battery anodes; steelmaking electrodes; refractory bricks; lubricants.

The chain — from the ground to the buyer

A critical material passes through distinct stages, and the country that leads each stage is often different — that gap is what this atlas exists to show. Each layer comes from a different public source with its own vintage, labelled below; shares are % of the world total.

● Reserves — where it could come from

Reserves are the deposits known to exist and economically worth mining — the long-run ceiling on supply, distinct from what is actually produced today. Natural graphite's reserves are broadly diversified: 🇨🇳 China holds the most (28%), ahead of 🇧🇷 Brazil (26%) and 🇲🇬 Madagascar (9%). At today's extraction rate the known reserves would last roughly 175 years, so scarcity is not the binding constraint — access, capital and processing capacity are. USGS 2024 · reserves as of 2023

● Mined — where it is dug up today

Mining is where ore leaves the ground — the stage most people equate with “the source”, though it is rarely where the supply risk actually concentrates. Output is highly concentrated: 🇨🇳 China supplies 77%, with 🇲🇬 Madagascar (6%) next. That is effectively a single-country dependence — one government's policy or one region's disruption can move the entire upstream. And the tap is politically live: China flake-graphite export restrictions (Dec 2023). BGS World Mineral Statistics · mine production, 2000–2024 (USGS-validated)

● Refined / processed — where it becomes usable metal

Refining / processing converts ore into the metal or compound buyers actually purchase; it concentrates in fewer hands than mining and sits at the buyer's doorstep, which is why it is usually the true chokepoint. 🇨🇳 China processes 94% — highly concentrated. China leads both mining and refining, so its grip is structural rather than a pure processing gate. This leverage is not hypothetical — China flake-graphite export restrictions (Dec 2023). On the buffers: 3% of supply is recovered from end-of-life recycling and substitutes are scarce, while the US imports 100% of what it consumes. IEA 2026

● Recycling & substitutability — the mitigants (EU CRM)

3% of supply comes from recycling end-of-life products. Substitutability is high — few or no alternatives, so a disruption bites hard.

● Traded — who ships it

Actual bilateral trade of the traded form, reconciled from UN Comtrade / CEPII BACI. Pick a year below — 2018–2024 measured, 2025* nowcast, 2026** directional scenario. The full 2002–2026 range is on the interactive atlas.

Context

China ~82%. Topical: graphite is the EV-battery anode, and China imposed export licensing in December 2023. The naive view points at Germany; Madagascar and Brazil supply more tonnage than value.

Every figure on this page is computed from out/data.json and out/flows_2024.json by build_profiles.py — no hand-entered numbers.