Graphite: China's Grip on the Battery Anode
Every lithium-ion battery needs an anode, and almost all of them are made from graphite - not lithium. Mining that graphite is spread across six or more countries. Turning it into the fine spherical powder a battery can actually use is not: the International Energy Agency puts China's share of that battery-grade processing capacity at over 90%, rising to 94% in its most recent figure.
This video explains how raw flake graphite becomes spherical graphite - crushed, spheronised, purified and coated - and the two routes into an anode, natural and synthetic, both dominated by Chinese processing. It traces China's export-licensing rounds: permits on graphite products from December 2023, then Announcement No. 58 of 2025, which extended licensing to artificial graphite anode materials and high-density battery cells from 8 November 2025 - before two notices, on 9 November 2025, eased that licensing for US-bound shipments until 10 and 27 November 2026, a policy window still moving as this video is made.
Every figure is on screen with its source and date.
Educational documentary. Not financial or investment advice.
In these topics
Chapters
- The anode nobody names
- What spherical graphite actually is
- Mining is spread out, processing is not
- Two kinds of graphite anode
- 2023: the first export permits
- 2025: the anode material squeeze
- Why Japan and the West call it their biggest risk
- Trade-war leverage
- Building a plant outside China
- Alternative chemistries
- How far has it actually got
Sources and credits
Primary sources
- International Energy Agency, Critical Minerals reporting, via Energetica India (May 2025) and BOFIT Weekly Review 32/2026 - China's ~70% natural graphite mining share and over 90%/94% battery-grade processing share.
- US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries - Graphite, 2024 - natural graphite mining countries.
- China Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and General Administration of Customs, Announcement No. 58 of 2025 (9 October 2025, effective 8 November 2025), via Thomson Reuters OneSource and HSF Kramer.
- Global Times/Xinhua, 'China suspends part of control measures on dual-use items export to US,' 9 November 2025, and Mondaq's corroborating report - the two suspension notices to 10 and 27 November 2026.
- Reuters/Mining Weekly, 'China, world's top graphite producer, to curb exports of key battery material,' 20 October 2023; MMTA on the scope of the December 2023 licence requirement.
- The Oregon Group, 'The canary in the gallium and germanium mine,' and its 2026 follow-up - the August 2023 gallium/germanium restrictions, the December 2024 'in principle' ban, and the November 2026 suspension.
- Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, 'Infographic: China controls three-quarters of graphite anode supply chain,' 7 November 2023, and the Benchmark glossary page 'What Is Graphite,' checked live 20 October 2026.
- TrendForce News, citing Nikkei reporting, May 2025 - Panasonic's and LG Energy Solution's graphite sourcing exposure.
- Electrive and Battery-News.de, 9 and 13 February 2024, and the NOVONIX ASX announcement - the Panasonic-Novonix offtake agreement, conditional on production milestones.
- Manufacturing Dive and Utility Dive, December 2024 - the US Department of Energy's conditional $754.8 million loan commitment to Novonix.
- EV Infrastructure News, October 2026, citing Benchmark Mineral Intelligence's 2035 silicon-anode forecast.
Not regulated financial advice.