Battery anode materials
The negative electrode powders, mostly synthetic graphite, that hold lithium in every lithium-ion cell; China makes over 90% and controls the know-how.
Specialty chemicals · Energy-transition chemicals · No. 67
- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- about 2.9 Mt shipped in 2025 (China-based producers), up 39%; synthetic graphite 2.67 Mt, natural graphite 0.21 Mt
- 15.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 380190
The black powder inside every phone and EV battery is mostly graphite baked at 3,000 C, and China makes over 90%.
Chart: Illustration: Battery anode materials
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Refinery needle coke or natural graphite flake is crushed, shaped and then graphitised in furnaces at about 3,000 C for days before being coated.
Three things to know
- Shipments grew 39% in 2025 to about 2.9 Mt, and GGII expects more than 3.7 Mt in 2026.
- BTR and Shanshan each held about 21% of the market, so two Chinese firms supply roughly two-fifths of all anode.
- Making synthetic graphite takes roughly 8-14 MWh of electricity per tonne, so plants cluster where Chinese power is cheap.
The journey
- 1 Coke or flakeNeedle coke, petroleum coke or natural flake
- 2 ShapingCrushed with pitch or milled into spheres
- 3 GraphitisationBaked for days at about 2,800-3,000 C
- 4 CoatingCoated, purified and sized to cell specs
- 5 Battery anodeSpread on copper foil to hold lithium