As per the market sources, Fangda Hefei Carbon, a branch of Fangda Carbon has cut its GE production further by about 10% from early October amid sluggish market conditions.
The company have produced 1,350 tonne in October, down from 1,500 tonne in September. The company had earlier cut production by about 10% in late June because of the sluggish market conditions.
The company plans to produce around 180,000 tonnes of electrodes in 2019 against 210,000 tonnes in previous year of 2018. The company is currently focusing on Chinese domestic market with the export share of 30%.
China’s domestic graphite electrodes market continues to operate weakly. Overcapacity in the market, high inventory, fierce competition from manufacturers, light transactions and many concessions continues to adversely impact the electrodes prices. The downstream GE consumption rate is low and the scrap prices are firm which are making the steel mill’s profit margin limited. The operating rate is not high, the procurement is on demand basis and buyers are into wait-and-watch mode.
As the winter heating season has arrived, a new round of limited production will be started thus further negatively impacting the country’s GE demand.
The current price of 450mm HP grade GE are heard to be in the range of RMB 13,000 – 15,000/MT (USD 1,825 – 2,100/MT) whereas that of UHP grade electrodes of size 500mm are in the range of RMB 15,000 – 22,000/MT (USD 2,100 – 3,090/MT)and 600mm are in the range of RMB 42,000 – 53,000/MT (USD 5,900 – 7,400/MT).
Leave a Reply