During National Day holiday downstream starts the goods preparation mode, graphite electrode prices start to rebound

In September, China's graphite electrode price stopped falling and picked up, showing a certain recovery. Market inquiries began to increase, and electrode manufacturers raised prices uniformly. By the end of September, the UHP 450mm with 30% needle coke content market mainstream price was 20000-21000 yuan/ton, the UHP 600mm mainstream price was 24000-25000 yuan/ton, the UHP 700mm price was 27500-28500 yuan/ton, up about 1500 yuan from the end of August. The actual transaction of some orders was increased by about 1000 yuan/ton compared with the previous period. This month, the price of petroleum coke, the upstream raw material of graphite electrode, rose first and then stabilized, and graphite electrode cost surface support is acceptable. 

Since the second quarter, many graphite electrode enterprises have begun to limit production and carry out transformation. After several months, graphite electrode market inventory has decreased and the supply has shrunk. With the arrival of the traditional demand season of "gold September silver October", the pace of steel production resumption is accelerated, In particular, many manufacturers with continuous maintenance in the early stage began to resume production. The utilization rate and operation rate of electric furnace capacity may be slightly improved. Some of the early waiting steel plants to increase electrode replenishment efforts, market demand has improved. In general, affected by the market tight supply and high cost pressure, graphite electrode enterprises actively pushed up the prices under the mood of reluctant sales. The transaction price of individual manufacturers rose slightly, and graphite electrode prices began to rebound.

In September, the overall trading volume of needle coke market was ordinary. The price of raw materials for coal based needle coke reached a new historical high. Many coal based needle coke enterprises shut down for maintenance, mainly selling inventory. The overall market output declined. By the end of September, coal based needle coke prices were 11000-12500 yuan/ton, and oil based needle coke prices were 12000-14000 yuan/ton. In September, low sulfur coke overall shipment was good. After the overall price rise this month, the low sulfur coke market showed a stable trend. Specifically, the price of Daqing Petrochemical 1 # A increased by 300 yuan to 7600 yuan/ton; Fushun Petrochemical 1 # increased the price by 200 yuan to 7400 yuan/ton; The price of Dagang Petrochemical 1 # A increased by 240 yuan to 6710 yuan/ton; The price of Jinxi Petrochemical 1 # B increased by 250 yuan to 7350-7450 yuan/ton; The price of Jinzhou Petrochemical 1 # B increased by 650 yuan to 7250 yuan/ton; The price of Huizhou Petrochemical 1 # B increased by 30 yuan to 6610 yuan/ton.

In September, China's steel market generally showed a trend of "first restraining and then rising", with a narrow shock trend. In the first half of the month, as the output of long process steel plants continued to increase and EAF steel plants resumed production one after another, In addition, epidemic situation and typhoon suppressed the demand, resulting in the steel price continued to decline slightly. After the second half of the month, the construction of infrastructure in various regions increased. Moreover affected by the stock before the festival, steel market transactions improved, the price has continued to rise slightly, and the output and profits of EAF steel plants also improved slightly. The utilization rate of EAF steel capacity rose to about 40%, up 3 percentage points from the end of August. Seen from October, the steel market is facing the pressure of de-stocking after the festival. In addition, the "20th National People's Congress" favorable policies are not clear, and the market is in a strong wait-and-see mood. The steel price is expected to maintain a volatile operating situation. At present, the EAF steel plants still suffer a lot of losses. In the short term, the power to continue to increase output is insufficient.

Although the graphite electrode market rebounded in September, due to the limited release of downstream demand, the rebound process was relatively slow, graphite electrode manufacturers were not blindly optimistic and were more cautious to increase output. Considering that North China will face the requirements of environmental protection policies in autumn and winter in the fourth quarter, the output of crude steel may decline from November to December, the market production may be restricted, and the market supply is expected to shrink. Driven by reduced market supply and increased demand, graphite electrode market prices are expected to be stable in October. For more information on graphite electrodes market, welcome to contact us.