【SMM Analysis: Demand Climb and Graphitisation Bottleneck Coexist, Anode Supply Remains in Tight Balance in September】

Published: Oct 19, 2026 14:22 (GMT+8)

Save

According to SMM statistics, anode material production reached 391,000 mt in September, a new high for the period.

According to SMM statistics, anode material production reached 391,000 mt in September, a new high for the period.

Demand side, affected by consumption tax, some production schedules were front-loaded, resulting in MoM growth falling short of expectations. Among these, LFP EV sector continued its strong performance, ternary EV sector declined MoM, and the ESS sector maintained high prosperity. Overall, battery cell production continued to rise further. Against this backdrop, anode enterprises were significantly affected by earlier destocking. In September, upstream and downstream enterprises in the peak season mostly leveraged economies of scale to actively control the decline in anode material inventory. Anode material production showed an overall upward trend for the month, but the supply-demand tightness persisted.

Looking ahead, effective graphitisation capacity will remain tight. Although nominal capacity appears sufficient, some production lines have been idled due to prolonged losses in previous years. Outdated capacity requires technological transformation before production resumptions, and new production lines face long approval cycles and high compliance requirements, making it difficult to ramp up in the short term. Anode material production will continue to seek a balance between "demand pull" and "cost and process bottleneck constraints," with MoM growth likely to remain in the low single digits. The industry's tight balance is expected to persist until year-end.

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.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

1 hour ago

Ministry Promotes Battery and Methanol-Powered Vessels for Greener Inland Waterways

[Ministry of Transport: Focus on promoting the development of new energy vessels powered by batteries and methanol for inland waterways] Gao Haiyun, a second-level inspector of the Water Transport Bureau of the Ministry of Transport, stated at a press conference held by the Shanghai Municipal Government on October 15 that the next step will be to take accelerating the construction of a strong transportation nation as the guiding principle, promote the completion of a number of high-quality intelligent agents in the water transport sector across 22 application scenarios, and enable artificial intelligence to better empower the high-quality development of water transport. The focus will be on promoting the development of new energy vessels powered by batteries and methanol for inland waterways, supporting the layout of green fuel bunkering and vessel battery charging and swapping facilities, creating zero-carbon waterway transport corridors, and driving the green and low-carbon transformation of the entire chain of ports, waterways, and vessels. International cooperation on green shipping corridors will be expanded to contribute a "China solution" to the sustainable development of the global shipping industry.

1 hour ago

China Dominates Global NEV Market, Supplying 60% of Passenger Electric Vehicles Sold Worldwide

[NBS: 3 out of every 5 passenger NEVs sold globally come from China] Mao Shengyong, spokesperson and deputy commissioner of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), said at a State Council Information Office press conference on the 19th that clean energy accounted for 36.8% of power generation by industrial enterprises above designated size in the first three quarters, up 0.9 percentage points from the same period last year. Green trade has also polished the new calling card of exports. From January to August, China's passenger NEVs accounted for more than 60% of the global market, meaning that 3 out of every 5 passenger NEVs sold globally come from China.

1 hour ago

3 hours ago

POSTECH and POSCO Holdings Develop Sequential Calcination Process for Single-Crystal Cathodes

POSTECH announced on October 19 that its researchers, working with Kangwon National University, POSCO Holdings and IIT Bombay, developed a sequential calcination process that controls cathode particle growth by changing the oxygen concentration during heat treatment. The team calcined NCM613 cathode material at 950°C for six hours, using air for the first four hours and oxygen for the remaining two hours. The resulting cathode retained 83.04% of its initial capacity after 100 charge–discharge cycles at 45°C, compared with approximately 77% for samples processed exclusively in air or oxygen. The findings were published in Advanced Science.

3 hours ago