Needle coke market maintains broadly stable, prices go up steadily in March: Monthly report

ICC News: Needle coke market has been stable overall in March. In some regions, coal needle coke and petroleum needle saw 1,000-2,000 yuan/ton of rise in price.

As of late March, domestic coal-based needle coke are largely at 24,000-28,000 yuan/tonne and petroleum-based needle coke 23,000-26,000 yuan/tonne.

Specifically, Fangda C-Chem (Jiangsu) has started production since March 6 after completing the overhaul of the whole coal needle coke production facilities during mid-Feb to early March. It produced 4000 tons in total in March, of which 2,000 tons are supplied to graphite electrode producers other than Fangda Carbon. As of late March, its needle coke is largely at 28,000 yuan/ton.

Shandong Jingyang maintained steady petroleum needle coke production in March. It now produces over 4,000 tons of calcined needle coke with graphite electrode producers as main clients, and feedbacks from downstream sectors have been rather positive; product price is largely at 23,000 yuan/ton and green coke 13,000 yuan/ton, according to the person in charge.

Jinzhou Petrochemical raised needle coke price twice in March. As of late March, calcined needle coke is largely at 26,000 yuan/ton and inventory is low. Green coke is basically at zero inventory. Its new 150kt/a needle coke and 70kt/a caclined needle coke facilities have passed research evaluation by senior experts group this month, suggesting a major improvement to its needle coke production capacity. New facilities are scheduled to be completed and go into production by the end of 2018 or early 2019.

On the import market, HNP, HSP and HBA products of Philip 66 are largely 2500USD, 2800USD and HBA1800USD. Overall shipment of Philips 66 this year will be less than that of the previous year, particularly HNP products, sources said. Products from Mitsubishi Chemical are largely 3,500-3,800USD; sources revealed its supply to China remain tight in 2018, estimated at 5,000-6,000 tons in total. PMC's price is largely at 3,500-3,600 USD, and PMC's planned export volume is 40 kilotons in 2018 with over 90 percent going to graphite electrode makers.