Hot spot: The situation between Russia and Ukraine is conducive to China's graphite electrode export

With the further tension between Russia and Ukraine, Europe, the United States and other countries increased sanctions against Russia, some large industrial enterprises in Russia (such as Severstal) also announced to stop supplying to the EU. Affected by this, the overall rise in global commodity prices recently, especially for some products closely related to Russia (such as aluminum, hot rolled coil, coal, etc.), the price rise is generally among the top.

1. Import and export of graphite electrode in Russia

Russia is a net importer of graphite electrodes. The annual import volume of graphite electrodes is about 40000 tons, of which more than half of the resources come from China and the rest from India, France and Spain. But at the same time, Russia also has nearly 20,000 tons of graphite electrodes for export every year, mainly to the United States, the European Union, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries. Since the electric arc furnace specifications of the countries in the above regions are more than 150 tons, the graphite electrodes exported from Russia are also mainly large-size ultra-high power electrodes.

In terms of production, the main electrode manufacturer in Russia is Energoprom Group. There are graphite electrode factories in Novocherkassk, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk. The annual capacity of graphite electrode is about 60,000 tons and the actual output is 30,000-40,000 ton per year. In addition, Russia's fourth largest oil company is also planning to build new needle coke and graphite electrode projects.

In terms of demand, at present, more than half of the ultra-high power electrodes in Russia come from imports. The regular power electrodes are mainly supplied domestically, and the high power electrodes basically account half and half.    

2. Promotion of China's graphite electrode export

It is understood that after the war between Russia and Ukraine, affected by the increase of production costs and the interruption of Russian exports, the quotation of large-scale ultra-high power electrodes in some European markets has reached about $5500/ton. In recent years, except for the small expansion of the production capacity of Indian graphite electrode manufacturers, the global market is basically relatively stable. Therefore, it is a good opportunity for Chinese graphite electrode manufacturers. On the one hand, it can increase exports to EU countries, and large-scale ultra-high power electrodes can fill the original market share of nearly 15,000-20,000 tons in Russia. The main competitors may be the United States and Japan; On the other hand, domestic electrodes export to Russia can be increased to make up for the reduction in the export of EU countries to Russia, and the main competitor may be India.

Overall, it is expected that this geopolitical conflict may increase China's graphite electrode export by 15000-20000 tons/year, finding more graphite electrode market information contact us.