After the Winter Olympic Games, petroleum coke market analysis

The 2022 Winter Olympic Games have been held in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, China from February 4 to February 20. During this period, domestic petroleum coke production enterprises were greatly affected. To view product specifications of graphite electrodes. The coking units of most refineries in Shandong, Hebei and Tianjin reduced production and stopped production in different degrees. Individual refineries took this opportunity to advance the maintenance date of coking units, which significantly reduced petroleum coke supply in the market.

Moreover, since March and April have been the peak maintenance seasons of coking units in refineries over the years, petroleum coke supply will be further reduced at that time. Traders take this opportunity to purchase in large quantities, pushing up petroleum coke price. As of February 22, the domestic petroleum coke reference price was 3766 yuan/ton, increased by 654 yuan/ton or 21.01% year-on-year in January.

Since February 21, with the official conclusion of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, the environmental protection policy of the Winter Olympic Games has been gradually lifted, the refineries and downstream carbon enterprises that were shut down and overhauled in the early stage have resumed construction, the vehicle control has been lifted, and the market logistics and transportation have returned to normal. Due to the low stock of raw petroleum coke in the early stage, downstream enterprises have began to actively stock inventory, and petroleum coke market demand is good.

In terms of port inventory, there are fewer ships arriving at port recently, and some ports have no petroleum coke inventory. Superimposed on the rapid rise of domestic petroleum coke prices, the shipments of major ports in East China, along the Yangtze River areas and Northeast China have accelerated, while port shipment volume in South China is small, which is mainly affected by Guangxi epidemic.

March and April will soon enter the peak season of refinery maintenance. The table below is the statistical schedule of domestic coking plants maintenance, in which the main refineries added 6 shutdown maintenance refineries, affecting the capacity of 9.2 million tons; Local refineries are expected to add 4 more shutdown refineries for maintenance, affecting coking units with an annual capacity of 6 million tons. Subsequent refinery coking units maintenance will continue to update.

In summary, petroleum coke market supply continues to be tight, and petroleum coke refineries  inventory is at a low level; With the end of the Winter Olympics, downstream carbon enterprises are actively purchasing, and petroleum coke demand is further increased; The market demand for cathode materials and electrodes is good. It is expected that low sulfur petroleum coke price will continue to rise by 100-200 yuan/ton, and medium and high sulfur petroleum coke price will still show an upward trend, with a range of 100-300 yuan/ton, contact us for the related news of petroleum coke.