Steel plants' weak demand hinders graphite electrode price rise

Graphite electrode market UHP400mm mainstream price is 22,500-23500 yuan/ton, needle coke 30% UHP450mm mainstream price is 22,000-23,000 yuan/ton, UHP600mm is 25500-26500 yuan/ton, and UHP700mm is 30,000-31000 yuan/ton.

Raw materials

Needle coke market is stable this week. Needle coke manufacturers execute the orders earlier this month. Needle coke overall market continues to operate at high prices. Specifically, the coal based needle coke price is 10,000-12,000 yuan/ton, and the petroleum based needle coke is 10,500-13,500 yuan/ton.

The high-quality and low sulfur petroleum coke price continues to decline. Specifically, Daqing Petrochemical 1#A price is reduced by 200 yuan to 6550 yuan/ton; Fushun Petrochemical 1# price decreased by 200 yuan to 6550 yuan/ton; Dagang Petrochemical 1#A price is 5400 yuan/ton; Jinxi Petrochemical 1#B price decreased by 250 yuan to 5850 yuan/ton; Jinzhou Petrochemical 1#B price decreased by 250 yuan to 5800 yuan/ton; Huizhou Petrochemical 1#B price is 5150 yuan/ton. As the raw materials of the current products are mostly purchased in the early stage, so the cost pressure is not reduced.

Steel plant

Driven by the rising futures market, China's steel spot market sentiment improved this week. Under the push of recent rise in raw materials and fuel, the rebar price has gradually increased. As of December 16, the average price in China was 4038 yuan/ton, 156 yuan higher than last weekend. This week, China's scrap steel market continued to rise, and the winter stock of steel plants gradually increased. However, the average purchase price was only 58 yuan higher than last week, to 2702 yuan/ton. Suppliers are reluctant to cut price, and the steel plants' receipt rate is growing slowly. Under the comprehensive influence of continuous losses, sales pressure, energy consumption control and other factors, nearly half of the independent EAF steel plants in Fujian, Guangdong and Anhui stopped production this week, and a few EAF steel plants in Jiangsu and Sichuan also stopped production for maintenance. According to statistics, the EAF steel capacity utilization rate of China's 135 steel plants was 38.2% this week, down 0.51% from last week, and the output was 214200 tons/day. At present, the fundamentals of the steel market have changed within a narrow range. In terms of traders, most of them are cautious and optimistic. They believe that there is a great possibility that steel prices will continue to strengthen before the Spring Festival, but meanwhile they are not optimistic about the prospects of demand beyond infrastructure. Futures hedging operations for winter reserves are also conducive to the formation of price fluctuations, and after March next year, the market will face callback pressure.

Future forecast

At present, after the optimization and adjustment of epidemic prevention and control in China, the epidemic prevention and control situation will ease, transportation difficulties and other problems will be gradually solved, and the actual trading situation will be relatively improved. However, the current demand of downstream steel plants is still weak, without the possibility of a rebound. A significant recovery may occur after the second quarter of next year. The graphite electrode market is expected to maintain a stable operation in the short term, mainly relying on small increases and the implementation of new prices.  Contact us for graphite electrode latest price information.