Artificial graphite cost support strengthens; natural graphite demand weakness persists [SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review]

Published: Jul 23, 2026 17:41

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[SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review: Artificial Graphite Cost Support Gradually Strengthening, Natural Graphite Demand Weakness Hard to Change] July 23 — This week, artificial graphite market prices remained stable. In terms of supply, the integrated capacity of leading anode enterprises struggled to match the continuous growth in downstream orders.

SMM July 23:

This week, artificial graphite market prices remained stable. Supply side, the self-owned integrated capacities of leading anode enterprises could not match the continued surge in downstream orders, and the tightness in spot supply had not eased. Meanwhile, raw material prices had been raised continuously, and combined with the cost pressure not yet fully absorbed from before, the current cost support remained robust. However, due to a certain lag in production, the cost pressure from the rise in material prices during this period had not yet manifested itself in the price side in the short term. Natural graphite side, end-user procurement demand remained persistently weak, and downstream pushing for lower prices was relatively common; however, current prices had been consolidating near the cost line for a long time, and the tug-of-war between buyers and sellers was obviously in a stalemate.

Looking ahead, for artificial graphite, driven by the combined effect of improving downstream demand and tight effective supply, along with the gradual transmission of cost pressure downstream, prices are expected to climb steadily. For natural graphite, lacking effective demand drivers, it will mainly consolidate sideways in the short term, lacking the momentum for a trend breakout.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhang Haohan 021-51666752

Wang Zihan 021-51666914

Wang Jie 021-51595902

Chen Bolin 021-51666836

Xu Yang 021-51666760

Xu Mengqi 021-20707868

Hu Xuejie 021-20707858

Yang Le 021-51595898

Wang Zhaoyu 021-51666827

Li Yisha 021-51666730

Huang Chencong 021-51595860

Lin Ziya 021-5166-6902

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

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