Traditional demand for graphite is largely tied to the steel industry where it is used as a liner for ladles and crucibles, as a component in bricks which line furnaces("refractories"), and as an agent to increase the carbon content of steel. In the automotive industry it is used in board, brake linings, gaskets and clutch materials. Graphite also has a myriad of their uses in batteries, lubricants, fire retardants, and reinforcements in plastics.

  The market for graphite exceeds one million tonnes per year of which 60% is flake and 40% is amorphous.Amorphous graphite is a low value, low growth product. Only flake graphite which can be economically rounded and upgraded to 99.95%purity is suitable for making batteries. The graphite market is far larger than the markets for magnesium, molybdenum cobalt, tungsten, lithium and rare earths combined.

  Industrial demand for flake graphite has been growing at about 5 percent annum for most of this decade due to the ongoing industrialization on China, India and other emerging economies.Demand for amorphous graphite is declining.