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

Published: May 7, 2026 17:54

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[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.

SMM May 7 News:

This week, artificial graphite anode material prices showed an upward trend. Supply and demand side, effective capacity at leading anode enterprises remained tight, while tail-end enterprises' capacity still could not fill the gap, resulting in a relatively tight effective supply pattern. Cost side, affected by the sustained rise in coke prices in the earlier period, anode producers faced severe cost pressure. As the production lag effect gradually faded, previously accumulated cost pressure began to transmit downstream. Overall, driven by the dual forces of cost support and tight supply-demand conditions, artificial graphite anode material prices showed a steady rising trend this week. Looking ahead, artificial graphite anode material is expected to benefit from continuously improving downstream end-use demand and upstream costs fluctuating at highs, and subsequent prices are expected to remain firm.

This week, natural graphite anode material prices remained stable. Upstream raw material prices continued to fluctuate at highs, effectively offsetting the price reduction expectations brought by loose supply, and overall market prices remained stable. Looking ahead, the dual pattern of "rigid cost support and relatively loose supply" will persist, the tug-of-war between sellers and buyers will be difficult to break quickly, and prices are highly likely to remain stable in the short term, with significant easing also unlikely.

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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