The overall price of needle coke market was stable in January, and shipments were not performing well due to the impact of the Spring Festival and sudden outbreaks. According to a needle coke company, current mainstream GE companies are basically stable, but the logistics issues affected by the epidemic situation. They will work with customers to discuss solutions. Anode material is generally affected by the epidemic situation, and the start of construction should basically be in late February. The purchase of raw materials will be delayed, but the inventory of each enterprise is in place, and there is no problem in stable supply.
Reviewing the production of some enterprises in January next year: Anshan Carbon kept normal operation during the Spring Festival, the operating rate remained at 80%, and the inventory level remained at the level of one month. In 2019, Anshan Carbon completed 35KMT needle coke sales, in which coke used in anode accounted for 88% of the total sales. Currently, Anshan Carbon has a designed production capacity of 80KMT tons of raw coke and 60KMT tons of calcined coke. During Spring Festival, the company's production has been running smoothly. It is understood that the shipment in January was better than expected. At present, the factory has only more than 2,000 tons of inventory, which has been set by overseas customers and will be exported in February. An order of 5,000 tons in February has been fulfilled, and the current plant is operating at full capacity to meet the downstream market demand that will resume work after the Lantern Festival. During the Jinzhou Petrochemical Festival, the second set of equipment is normally produced. The first set of calcination equipment is currently mainly processing ordinary petroleum coke. The coking equipment is used to produce negative raw needle coke. It is understood that the current epidemic situation has a major impact on factory logistics, and the overall operating rate has remained at 70%. As of now, the price of domestic coal-based needle coke is 7000-8000 yuan / ton, the price of oil-based needle coke is 7000-9500 yuan / ton, and the price of raw coke is 6500-8000 yuan / ton. In terms of imports, Korean coal Needle coke at 750-1000 US dollars, from Japan coal-based coke for GE reported 1800-2000 US dollars / ton, oil-based needle coke 2300-2500 US dollars / ton; UK coke for GE reported 2000-300 US dollars, coke for anode reported 1100-1300 USD / ton
Downstream GE market: In January, the domestic GE market was generally stable. Recently, the supply of HP graphite electrodes has been tightly affected, and prices have continued to rise steadily. At the same time, the prices of high-power products have also risen; while the supply of large-size electrodes is still abundant, and the price has been temporarily stable. According to feedback from a steel mill, UHP400mm graphite electrodes are particularly tight, and UHP450-550mm supply is also slightly tight. If there is insufficient stocking during the Spring Festival, steel mills will face production suspension in the later stage.
Anode material market was in a stable state throughout January. Until the Spring Festival holiday in January, the mainstream of domestic low-end anode materials was reported at 21,000- 26,000 yuan / ton, and the mainstream of mid-range products was reported at 43,000-57,000 yuan / ton. Product mainstream reported 70,000-90,000 yuan / ton. The epidemic situation is too uncertain, and it is expected that the production and sales of the anode material market will also be low in February.
The terminal steel market was affected by the prevention and control of epidemic situation in January and the obstruction of scrap steel transportation. During the Spring Festival, some domestic special steel companies also started to limit the production of electric furnaces. Capacity utilization has declined. According to Xinxun statistics, as of February 3, 2020, the utilization rate of electric furnace steel capacity of 135 steel plants nationwide was 18.23%, a decrease of 3.68% compared with that before the holiday. Among them, the capacity utilization rate of independent electric furnace steel plants was 16.1%, a decrease of 3.54% compared with that before the holiday.
In summary, the overall market remained stable in January, but affected by the sudden epidemic, disrupted the original production and sales rhythm. For the market trend in February-March, needle coke manufacturers are generally bullish on the market outlook, because the year before Needle coke prices are close to or even below the cost line; most companies in the lower reaches of the year did not have sufficient stocks. Needle coke companies mainly reduced stock utilization and also reduced the operating rate. The effective social inventory was not high.
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