China’s Graphite Electrodes Industry Performance in Q1 2019

It seems that the Graphite electrodes shortage that has cropped up in China in the latter of 2017 amid closure of polluting GE units seems to settle out as considerable surge have been recorded in country’s electrodes production as well as exports for the first quarter of 2019.

GE output surged by 16% y-o-y basis

According to China Carbon Association data, from Jan-Mar 2019, China’s graphite electrode output has been recorded at 160,565 tonnes, registering an increase of 16% year-on-year basis. The output of ultra-high power graphite electrodes was 78,375 tonnes, an increase of 46.82%. The total output of ordinary power graphite electrode was 27,800 tonnes, down by 7% year-on-year.

The highest production in case of UHP grade GE was contributed by Fangda Carbon followed by Jilin Carbon, Kaifeng Carbon, Dangdong Xinxing and Nantong Yangtze.

Sales and inventory analysis

In Q1 CY19, GE sales have recorded an increase of 10% y-o-y basis at 150,801 tonnes with UHP grade GE sales surging by 36% at 75,736 tonnes whereas HP grade electrodes sales plunging by 5.21% at 46,768 tonnes y-o-y basis.

Towards the end of Mar’19, the total inventory of carbon products in the whole industry was 289,671 tonnes, a year-on-year increase of 7%. The graphite electrode inventory was at 86,639 tonnes, an increase of 43% against the corresponding period of 2018. Out of this, the high-power graphite electrode inventory was 23,833 tonnes and that of ultra-high power graphite electrodes is 33,929 tonnes.
China GE exports scenario

The total export volume of China's graphite electrode in January-March 2019 was 34,588 tonnes, an increase of 6% over the same period of last year. The total export volume of ultra-high power graphite electrodes was 21,598 tonnes, a y-o-y increase of 3%. The export volume of ordinary power electrode was 10,210 tonne, an increase of 17% year-on-year.