According to IC Carbon, in 2017-18, there were more than 170 new electric furnaces in China and the ratio of the electric furnace in country’s total steel production increased from 7.3% in 2016 to nearly 12% in 2018. EAFs promote the use of scrap in China and is beneficial for environmental protection and sustainable development. The EAF steel industry has injected new vitality and brought huge business opportunities to related equipment and raw materials companies including GE manufacturers.
Now, along with the continuous release of domestic electric steelmaking capacity, the demand for graphite electrodes is bound to increase. According to IC Carbon, the demand for graphite electrodes in China’s steel market is expected to reach 502,600 tonne by 2020.
In case of capacity, since 2017, the production capacity of the graphite electrode industry has expanded rapidly. It is expected that the supply of graphite electrode in China will reach its peak in 2019-20.
According to the survey by IC Carbon, China graphite electrode capacity which was 1.22 MnT in 2017 is expected to touch 1.30 MnT in 2018, 1.80 MnT in 2019 and 2.12 MnT in 2020, an increase of 88,000 tonnes in 2018, 50,000 tonnes in 2019 and 32,000 tonnes in 2020.
China’s Henan Hongqiqu New Material Co. Ltd has a graphite electrode plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes and as per sources, the company is set to double its capacity to 100,000 tonnes.
The capacity addition will be made for UHP grade GE and the total estimated investment in the same is about 1.9 billion yuan while in first phase the investment will be around 1billion yuan. The plant will be spread across an area of 300 acres. The foundation for the project was laid on 12 Feb’19 and the plant is expected to put into production by the end of 2019.
However, despite increase in GE demand and capacities, its supply is likely to be hindered by needle coke shortage.
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