Another economic union will levy anti-dumping duties on China's graphite electrodes!

Abstract: on September 22, according to the news released by the Eurasian Economic Commission, the Executive Committee of the Eurasian Economic Commission decided to impose anti-dumping duties on graphite electrodes from China with a circular cross-section diameter of no more than 520mm. The anti-dumping tax rates range from 14.04% to 28.2% according to the different production enterprises. The decision shall come into force on January 1, 2022 for a period of five years.

How much impact will this anti-dumping have on China's graphite electrode export? We can see from the following aspects:

1. Which countries are included in the Eurasian Economic Union?

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), also known as the Eurasian Economic Commission, was established in 2015. Its members include Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia, all of which are important partners in the “One belt, one road”.

2. What is the export volume of China's graphite electrode to the above five countries?

According to the statistics, from January to June 2021, China's total export of graphite electrodes was 187,900 tons, and the export volume to Eurasian member countries was as follows:

It can be seen that the total amount of graphite electrodes exported to the five countries accounts for 1/9 of China's total exports. From January to June this year, the top five exporting countries of China's graphite electrodes are mainly:  Russian Federation, South Korea, Turkey, Italy and Taiwan of China, with the proportion of exports as shown in the figure below:

Figure: Proportion of Graphite electrode exporting countries in China in the first half of 2021

As shown in the figure above, the Russian Federation has the greatest impact, accounting for about 10% of China's total graphite electrode exports in the first half of this year. According to the feedback of exporters, the specifications of graphite electrodes exported to the Russian Federation are mainly UHP450mm, UHP500mm and UHP600mm, while the anti-dumping is mainly aimed at graphite electrodes with circular cross-section diameter no more than 520mm, so UHP450mm and UHP500 products are mainly involved.

3. Product price advantage

Russia's full range of graphite electrode products (used for electric arc furnace steelmaking) are produced by Renova's EPM group, with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons and an actual output of 20,000-30,000 tons/year, which is far from meeting its domestic demand. At present, the importing countries of Russian graphite electrodes mainly rely on India and China. India mainly has two graphite electrode factories, HEG and GIL, but the production cost is high, so the price is much higher than that in China.

Conclusion

As a leading exporter of graphite electrodes in recent years——China is generally welcomed by overseas users due to its low price and gradually rising quality. Even if the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020 led to a sharp rise in international sea freight, it still could not hinder the rise of its export. The anti-dumping implementation time will officially take effect on January 1, 2022. The graphite electrode in Europe is expected to increase by about US $500/ton in the next quarter. Therefore, according to the current selling price in the Chinese market, the export impact is relatively limited. However, due to the long collection time of the anti-dumping duty, the development of the situation has certain variables, and the long-term impact remains to be seen , learn more detail information contact us.