China's anode material supply has shown an uptrend since the second quarter amid high capacity utilization rates and improving downstream demand when the downstream battery cell enterprises lifted the production scheduling, according to OilChem.
China's Anode Material Production and Capacity Utilization Rates
Source: OilChem
OilChem's data showed the anode material production stood at 165,700 tonnes in May, up 2.47% month-on-month and up 62.45% year-on-year, on high capacity utilization rates that reached 73.40% in May, a month-on-month increase of 3.32 percentage points and a year-on-year increase of 7.12 percentage points. Leading enterprises, in particular, kept their capacity utilization rates at high levels, and small and medium-sized enterprises slightly raised the production according to orders, in a bid to reduce the inventory pressure.
China's Artificial Graphite Anode Material Apparent Consumption
Source: OilChem
The apparent consumption of artificial graphite anode materials was at 92,400 tonnes in April, up 51.23% from a month ago, and the figure totaled 249,300 tonnes over January-April, according to OilChem. The increase in production scheduling of downstream battery cell enterprises and stronger demand for electric vehicles drove up the consumption.
Faced with rising supply and demand, OilChem predicts the anode material prices might keep stable in the future.
Written by Catherine Sun, sss@oilchem.net
Edited by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
