- Imports from China plunge 60% in Jan-Jul’25
- Poor demand from EAFs also weighs on imports
Mysteel Global: Japan’s imports of graphite electrodes dropped by 23.6% y-o-y to just 1,482 tonnes (t) during July 2025, the first full month that final anti-dumping duties were in place, new Japanese customs data show. The July result took the total for the first seven months of this year to 7,334 t, lower by a large 36.7% from January-July last year, the data show.
The decline is clearly attributable to the singeing AD penalties imposed on China-origin electrodes earlier this year, according to Japanese sources. Chinese electrode imports in July plunged by 54.7% y-o-y to just 386 t, with the result that imports of electrodes from China during January-July reached 3,051 t, lower by a huge 59.4% y-o-y.
In late February, Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) decided after a ten-month probe that electrodes originating in China had been dumped in Japan and had caused material damage to the domestic industry. The ministry had slapped imports with a provisional tariff rate of 104.61% while it finalised its investigation.
A year earlier, Japanese makers SEC Carbon, Tokai Carbon Co, and Nippon Carbon Co had filed an application with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and MOF alleging China-origin electrodes had been shipped at unfairly low prices, nominating an AD duty rate of 37.7%.
Subsequently, on 27 June this year, METI and the MOF announced in a final determination that AD duties would be applied on electrodes imported from China for a period of five years, spanning 3 July 2025-2 July 2 2030, and set the final duty rate at 95.2%.
In recent years, Japan’s imports of graphite electrodes from China had averaged over 1,000 t/month, with approximately 1,130 t arriving in March and making China the largest supplier to Japan ahead of India, France, and Spain.
However, following the introduction of the provisional duties, the import volume dropped to around 190 t in April, to 110 t in May, and 195 t in June, the customs data show. During January-July, the monthly average was only about 440 t.
The average unit price of China-origin electrodes also picked up in July, rising to JPY 534,700/t ($3,637/t) compared with an average of JPY 456,200/t in July last year, according to customs. Chinese electrodes were still extremely competitive in Japan, given that the average unit price of all imports from all foreign suppliers in July was JPY 704,330/t.
Significantly, Japan’s total electrode imports from all sources during the seven months reached only 7,334 t, down markedly from 11,119 t during the same period last year. Partly responsible for the overall decline was doubtless the fact that demand for electrodes from Japan’s electric-arc furnace steelmakers has softened. Japan Iron and Steel Federation calculations show that crude steel production among mills using EAFs during January-July this year declined by 6.9% to 12.43 million tonnes (mnt).
Meanwhile, in a statement to the Tokyo Stock Exchange last Friday, Nippon Carbon announced that a fire had occurred early that morning in graphitisation furnace facilities at its Toyama factory in western Japan. The graphitisation process basically rearranges the carbon atoms in an electrode to give it specific properties such as good electrical and thermal conductivity, essential in electric-furnace steelmaking.
“We will conduct a prompt investigation into the cause of the incident (and) should it be determined that the incident will have a significant impact on our business performance, we will promptly make a disclosure,” it told the exchange. Further details have not been released.
Note: This article has been written in accordance with a content exchange agreement between Mysteel Global and BigMint.
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