Cost and demand sides are double positive, needle coke price increase

Recently, needle coke price in China has increased by 300-1000 yuan. As of March 10, China's needle coke market price operating range: cooked coke is 10,000-13,300 yuan/ton; Raw coke is 8000-9500 yuan/ton, and imported oil-series needle coke mainstream transaction price is 1100-1300 USD/ton; Cooked coke is 2000-2200 USD/ton; imported coal-series needle coke mainstream transaction price is 1450-1700 USD/ton. UHP graphite electrode with the imported needle coke material has passed ISO qualification.

1. Raw material prices rise, needle coke cost is high.

Raw material products price has increased greatly. Affected by the rise of international crude oil, the average price of oil slurry market has exceeded 5700 yuan/ton, and the low sulfur price has reached more than 6000 yuan. Meanwhile, the price of coal tar and coal pitch has been callback, needle coke overall cost is high.  

2. Downstream operation is improved, needle coke demand is positive.

The downstream construction operation has increased, graphite electrode construction operation is expected to rise to 50% in March. However,  electric furnace steel plants operation is still low, short-term to graphite electrode purchase intention is not strong. Some state-owned steel plants mainly purchase graphite electrode on demand. Affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, some graphite electrode enterprises postpone the delivery of export orders to Russia, and some enterprises in Europe increase their graphite electrode inquiries from China, and future graphite electrode demand is expected to increase. Negative materials construction in March is expected to be 75% - 80%, the terminal power battery market orders are not reduced. On the whole, the demand for needle coke (raw coke) is good.

3. Future market forecast

It is expected that needle coke price will mainly rise in the short term. On the one hand, raw material prices run high, and needle coke cost is also high; On the other hand, the downstream negative materials and graphite electrodes operation are increasingly, the orders have not decreased, and the raw coke market is active. In summary, needle coke price still has room to rise, with a upward adjustment of about 500 yuan, contact us for more coke market information.