Graphite (Natural)
A key material for lithium-ion battery anodes, lubricants, refractories, and steelmaking. Demand is growing rapidly with EV battery production expansion.
Where Graphite (Natural) sits among tracked minerals
Share of global output from the #1 producing country, across all 20 minerals PlainCountries tracks
84.2% 3rd of 20 higher than 17 of 20 tracked minerals
Top-producer share of global output, bucketed by value
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more tracked minerals. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 · 2023 data year
Global Production Overview
Nearby Critical Minerals by leader share
Next read: Tungsten · All minerals
Why Graphite (Natural) supply looks concentrated
Graphite (Natural) sits in the high-concentration tercile of this 20-mineral desk, per the concentration figures above. Graphite (Natural) is tagged as a critical mineral in this corpus, governments track production geography because a shortage or export restriction can ripple through clean-energy and defense chains. A key material for lithium-ion battery anodes, lubricants, refractories, and steelmaking. Demand is growing rapidly with EV battery production expansion. Global mine production in 2023 was about 3.8 Mt (thousand metric tons). 6 countries appear in the table below.
The import-reliance figure above is a high reading on this desk, so mine geography abroad is a direct input to US supply-chain risk for Graphite (Natural). Top-five share is 96% (China, Mozambique, Russia, Brazil, India). On a high-concentration mineral, an outage or export curb in the leader moves availability faster than on a diffuse desk.
Next comparable critical mineral on this desk by leader-share distance: Tungsten (~86% leader share). Cite USGS MCS 2024 (data year 2023) when you reuse any figure, we do not impute missing rows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which country produces the most Graphite (Natural)?
China is the world's leading producer of Graphite (Natural), accounting for approximately 84% of global mine production in 2023.
How is Graphite (Natural) used?
A key material for lithium-ion battery anodes, lubricants, refractories, and steelmaking. Demand is growing rapidly with EV battery production expansion.
What is global Graphite (Natural) production?
Global mine production of Graphite (Natural) was approximately 3.8 Mt in 2023, measured in thousand metric tons.
How reliant is the US on imported Graphite (Natural)?
The United States imports approximately 100% of its apparent Graphite (Natural) consumption, making it a strategically significant commodity for US supply chain security.
Source: USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2024 (U.S. Geological Survey, National Minerals Information Center). Source: USGS National Minerals Information Center, data year 2023. Values are USGS estimates and may include revisions. US import reliance data from USGS.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.