Iron ore sell-off deepens as global growth fears hit commodities
Iron ore sank below $90 a ton for the first time since 2022 on Monday.
Syrah Resources on Monday posted a wider half-year loss after its graphite production and sales plunged amid a glut in major market China.
The Australian miner’s half-year loss widened to A$67.1 million ($44.66 million) in the six months to June 30, from A$38.6 million in the same period a year earlier.
Its revenue fell 33% to A$19 million.
Graphite is a carbon-based material used in batteries and is a vital component in electric vehicles. China accounts for more than 70% of global supply of both natural, mined graphite and the synthetic variety, made from petroleum coke or coal tar, by-products of oil and coal processing.
China’s graphite production has expanded to about 1.2 million metric tons in 2023, from about 700,000 tons in 2020. The Asian country was also, until recently, a major market for graphite exporters like Syrah.
Syrah said it had not sold any graphite to China in the first half of the year amid “intense competition and oversupply issues in the Chinese domestic synthetic graphite active anode material (AAM) market”.
Production from its Balama operations in Mozambique declined 38% during the period to 34,900 tons. Sales also fell to 29,800 tons from 44,700 tons a year earlier.
The company said it shipped graphite to third-party customers, mainly Indonesia, reflecting “the development of a market for ex-China natural graphite AAM”.
Syrah also shipped 500 tons of graphite to its United States-based Vidalia AAM facility, which started production in February.
($1 = 1.5026 Australian dollars)
(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Mark Potter)
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