Anode Costs Under Pressure, Prices Remain Steadily Firm [SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review]

Published: May 21, 2026 17:29

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[SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review: Anode Costs Under Pressure, Prices Remained Steadily Firm] May 21: This week, artificial graphite anode material prices remained stable. Supply-demand side, effective capacity in the industry remained tight with no new capacity release for the time being.

SMM May 21 News:

This week, artificial graphite anode material prices remained stable. Supply and demand side, effective capacity in the industry remained tight with no new capacity release for the time being; cost side, earlier raw material price increases had been gradually passed through to downstream, but product price raises failed to fully cover cost increases, thus further providing strong support for artificial graphite anode prices. Looking ahead, underpinned by the dual logic of strong cost support combined with steadily recovering downstream demand, artificial graphite anode material prices are expected to maintain a firm trend.

This week, natural graphite anode material prices remained stable with no significant fluctuations. Although supply-side market availability was relatively ample with certain downward price pressure, upstream graphite raw material prices remained elevated, forming a solid cost barrier that effectively offset the downward pressure from loose supply, ultimately keeping market prices stable. Overall assessment: in the short term, the market is in a phase of interplay between rigid cost support and a loose supply pattern, and natural graphite anode prices are highly likely to maintain a stable trend with limited overall fluctuation range.

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.

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