Syrah Resources joins US lobby group calling for investigation into Chinese graphite price tactics
Syrah Resources (ASX: SYR) has joined a lobby group of North American miners to petition the US Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission over China’s alleged “price dumping” of graphite products.
The US trade group of American Active Anode Material Producers has filed a 14,000-page petition with two federal agencies alleging China, through lucrative state subsidies, is artificially cratering the price of processed graphite and making it impossible for other companies to compete.
The group hopes that, if the unfair pricing is confirmed, the US government will impose additional tariffs on certain Chinese graphite products.
Fair competition
Syrah managing director Shaun Verner said that Syrah’s petition reflects its commitment to trade practices that don’t undermine fair competition.
The US producers are asking for tariffs of up to 920% if Chinese suppliers are found guilty of illegally tanking mineral prices.
“It’s a request that will play out in the coming months and likely get a warm reception from incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to impose tariffs on Chinese goods in an escalating trade war between the two countries that’s shining a national spotlight on otherwise obscure supply chains,” Mr Verner said.
The company said that additional tariff actions will help protect the North American graphite active anode material (AAM) or battery anode material industry from China’s trade practices and support graphite AAM supply chain development outside China.
Key graphite market
The US is a key market for Syrah’s global graphite development supply chain.
Syrah received significant US funding support in late October for its Balama graphite operation in Mozambique on the back of its designation as a critical component of the global energy transition.
The grant allocated Balama approximately $227 million in financial backing through a United States International Development Finance Corporation loan facility, the first such funding for a graphite operation.
Syrah had previously executed multi-year binding offtake agreements with developing spherical graphite and anode processing customers in the US.
Critical battery mineral
The US government has labelled graphite as a critical mineral due to it being the most significant component by mass in lithium-ion batteries.
In September 2024, the US Trade Representative (USTR) finalised actions concerning tariffs on certain imports into the US from China to counter unfair and market-distortive trade practices by Chinese suppliers.
The USTR reinstated a 25% tariff on both natural and synthetic graphite AAM products from China and increased tariffs to 25% on a number of other products including natural graphite flake and uncoated graphite powder from 2025.
An investigation into Chinese graphite AAM suppliers will now assess whether the US domestic industry has been harmed by Chinese suppliers selling graphite AAM at below fair value and/or if the Chinese government has subsidised graphite AAM production.