According to the estimates of P&S Intelligence, a market research company based in India, the market will progress at a CAGR of 7.4% between 2020 and 2030. The factors driving the advancement of the market are the rising requirement for graphite products in the electronics and metallurgy industries around the world.

Additionally, the growing requirement for graphite in lithium-ion batteries and steel production processes is fueling the expansion of the graphite market across the world. As per the World Steel Association, the global crude steel manufacturing increased from 1,814 million tons in 2018 to 1,869 million tons in 2019. The surge in steel manufacturing is because of the rising requirement for steel products in several end-use industries such as automotive, oil & gas, residential, and construction.

Because of its various beneficial traits such as high durability, strength at extreme temperatures, and high corrosion resistance, graphite is extensively used in the steel manufacturing process. Besides this, the mushrooming usage of graphite in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries is also propelling the growth of the graphite market all over the world. Graphite is used in huge quantities in lithium-ion batteries as an anode. Each lithium-ion battery needs more graphite (10–20 times) than lithium.

As natural graphite is more affordable than synthetic graphite and lithium titanate, the ballooning requirement for lithium-ion batteries is positively impacting the sales of graphite across the world. This is fueling the progress of the graphite market. When application is taken into consideration, the market is divided into refractories, electrodes, lubricants, graphite shapes, foundries, friction products, and batteries. Out of these, the electrodes category recorded the highest growth in the market in the years gone by.

This was because of the fact that graphite electrodes are the prominent heating elements in the electric arc furnaces that are used during steelmaking processes, where the scrap from old appliances or cars is melted for producing crude steel. Moreover, the various beneficial traits of graphite electrodes such as their high electrical conductivity and their ability to withstand extremely high levels of heat are pushing up the requirement for graphite in electrodes.

Globally, the market is predicted to register huge expansion in Asia-Pacific (APAC) in the forthcoming years. This will be a result of the growing usage of smartphones, the soaring sales of automobiles, particularly electric vehicles, the expansion of mining operations, and surging commercial applications of graphite in the regional countries. In addition to these, the increasing manufacturing and import of graphite for meeting the domestic requirement for lithium-ion batteries is further boosting the sales of graphite in this region.

Hence, it can be said with full confidence that the market will exhibit rapid advancement all over the world in the upcoming years, primarily because of the rising requirement for graphite in metallurgy, automobile, and electronics industries around the world.