ICC News: Domestic needle coke market has been steady in both supply and demand in September. Companies' performance have largely been stable. The market overall is expected to maintain steady ahead of China's National Day holiday while after the holiday, some of companies could make price adjustments based on shipments, likely with a rise of 500-1,000 yuan/ton. Market prices of raw needle coke are 13,000-16,000 yuan/ton and calcined needle coke 25,000-28,000 yuan/ton in September. In company news: (1) Pingdingshan Xuyang Xingyu New Materials Co., Ltd, which was jointly set up Xuyang, Haixing Chemical and Xingde Chemical, reported the first phase (50kt/a) of its 100kt/a needle coke project has been proceeding smoothly; it set to be fully completed in November, 2018 and is expected to achieve continuous production for the market by the Q1 of 2019. (2) Shanxi Hongte started operation of coking facilities and its second needle coke production line in August. The company current carries a total 100kt/a needle coke capacity, although the actual output is estimated at 70-80 percent due to a lack of maintenance and insufficiant run of equipments for a long time. And 70 percent of products are sold in the domestic market, and 30 percent overseas. (3) Kaifeng Carbon New Materials Co., Ltd completed all work concerning safety assessment, environmental evaluation, primary researches for its 40kt/a needle coke project in July. The company is installing equipment in the tank area as scheduled. The projected is planned to be completed and start trial operation in 2019. (4) As per sources, Baotailong resumed production on 9 September after it halted production for maintenance for two months since July. Its total shipments in Q3 came in at 2,500 tons on maintenance disruptions, among which, 1,000 tons are sold on graphite electrode market. (5) Shandong Jingyang said 82 percent of its products are calcined needle coke and 18 percent raw needle coke after upgrading earlier, among which, 36 percent of calcined needle coke are exported to overseas markets. (6) Weifang Zhenxing Chemical's 40kt/a needle coke project is proceeding smoothly. Right now, it has started on equipment installation and is expected to start production around the Lunar New Year. Meanwhile, the company's second phase (80kt/a) of HP graphite electrode project will start construction around May 2019. On the downstream market, domestic anode material market overall has been ok in September; shipments are stable and improving; product prices hold relatively steady. As of late September, low-end anode materials are largely 28,000 to 35,000 yuan/mt, medium-grade products are around 45,000 to 60,000 yuan/mt, and high-end products are around 70,000 to 100,000 yuan/mt in China.
In September, China's graphite electrode prices have been extending the gain seen in late August, showing stable upward trend. The market is in fine fettle. As of late September, prevailing prices for 450mm UHP graphite electrode are 62,000-70,000 yuan/ton, 600mm UHP graphite electrode 100,000-120,000 yuan/ton, and 700mm UHP graphite electrode 120,000-150,000 yuan/ton, rising 14,000-22,000 yuan/ton from late August.
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