Unforeseen graphite market developments in 2023 cast a shadow on ASX-listed Syrah’s Balama graphite project’s sales and production momentum, while highlighting the company’s strategic position in global battery anode and natural graphite markets, chairperson Jim Askew said on May 24 at the company’s AGM. The lower production from Balama, in Mozambique, along with natural graphite sales and weighted average prices in 2023, compared with 2022, were impacted by synthetic graphite capacity expansion and government policy influence on the Chinese anode customer market, inhibiting Balama from achieving its full potential, he said.