Needle Coke Prices Remained Stable, Petroleum Coke Prices Rose Slightly [SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review]

Published: May 7, 2026 17:53

Save

[SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review: Needle Coke Prices Held Steady, Petroleum Coke Rose Slightly] May 7: This week, after the holiday ended in China, needle coke prices held steady while petroleum coke saw a slight increase. Cost side, Brent crude oil prices showed a pullback trend after the holiday.

SMM May 7 News:

This week, after the domestic holiday ended, needle coke remained stable, while petroleum coke saw a slight increase. Cost side, Brent crude oil prices pulled back after the holiday, but the weekly average price still held firmly above $100/barrel, continuing to provide strong cost support for anode raw material coke prices. Supply and demand side, the supply-demand relationship in the needle coke market showed no significant fluctuations, supporting its price stability; as some refineries successively entered maintenance shutdown phases and downstream enterprises' restocking demand at the beginning of the month was gradually released, the supply-demand pattern in the petroleum coke market saw marginal improvement, providing strong support for petroleum coke price recovery overall. Looking ahead, attention should be paid to international crude oil price fluctuations and the pace of downstream demand release. If crude oil prices continue to stay high, coupled with sustained improvement in demand from the downstream anode material industry, anode raw material coke prices are expected to remain firm at highs in the short term.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lv Yanlin 021-20707875

Zhou Zhicheng 021-51666711

Zhang Haohan 021-51666752

Wang Zihan 021-51666914

Wang Jie 021-51595902

Xu Yang 021-51666760

Xu Mengqi 021-20707868

Hu Xuejie 021-20707858

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 to learn 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

5 mins ago

Glencore Q1: African copper cathode surges 68%, cobalt production falls 39% y-o-y

Own-sourced copper production from Glencore’s African copper assets — KCC and Mutanda — rose by 27,400 tonnes (68%) year on year to 67,900 tonnes, with KCC contributing 51,900 tonnes (up 72% year on year) and Mutanda 16,000 tonnes (up 55%), according to the production report. Glencore attributed the increase to improved grades at both operations. African cobalt production fell to 5,100 tonnes, down by 42% year on year, with Mutanda producing no cobalt in the quarter compared with 2,900 tonnes a year earlier, according to the report. For the first quarter of 2026, Glencore’s own-sourced cobalt production was 5,800 tonnes, down by 39% year on year.

5 mins ago

11 mins ago

[SMM Analysis] Lithium Carbonate Futures and Spot Divergence: Futures Rose to 200,000, Spot Lithium Carbonate Transactions Remained Sluggish

Lithium carbonate production slightly declined this week, mainly due to maintenance on production lines at some spodumene-based enterprises, while production from other raw material sources remained stable with a slight increase. In terms of market transactions and inventory changes: upstream lithium chemical plants saw a slight slowdown in spot order shipments, downstream players and traders showed weakened purchase willingness, and combined with the successive commencement of long-term contract deliveries, inventory exhibited a slight destocking trend this week. On the downstream material plants side, as prices rose significantly, spot order purchase willingness remained persistently weak, with consumption still primarily relying on earlier inventory and long-term contract and customer-supplied materials delivered at the beginning of the month. On the trader side, due to sluggish downstream purchases, inventory continued to accumulate.

11 mins ago

54 mins ago

Artificial Graphite Prices Rise, Natural Graphite Remains Stagnant [SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review]

[SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review: Artificial Graphite Prices Rise, Natural Graphite Remains Stable and Stagnant] May 7: This week, artificial graphite anode material prices showed an upward trend. Supply-demand side, effective capacity at leading anode enterprises remained tight.

54 mins ago