Artificial Graphite Steady with Gains, Natural Graphite Sideways and Hard to Break [SMM Lithium Battery Anode Raw Material Market Weekly Review]

SMM July 16 News:

This week, the artificial graphite market showed stable price trends. On the supply side, the in-house integrated capacity of first- and second-tier enterprises struggled to match the continuous release of downstream orders, and the tightness in spot artificial graphite circulation showed no signs of easing. Meanwhile, material prices once again exhibited a continuous upward trend, and combined with cost pressure that has not been fully absorbed previously, the current cost support remains strong. On the natural graphite side, end-user procurement demand stayed weak, and downstream push for lower prices was widespread. However, prices have been moving sideways near the cost line for a prolonged period, resulting in a stalemate between buyers and sellers.

Regarding the outlook, for artificial graphite, with improving market demand and tight effective supply, along with cost pressure gradually being passed downstream, prices are expected to climb steadily. For natural graphite, due to a lack of effective demand-side drivers, it is expected to mainly move sideways in the short term, lacking sufficient momentum for a trend breakout.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Wang Cong 021-51666838

Ma Rui 021-51595780

Feng Disheng 021-51666714

Lyu 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