China's Jilin Hengchang Carbon to put GE Plant into Operation by the end of 2019

As per the latest updates, China's Jilin Hengchang Carbon Co. Ltd's graphite electrodes project referred as Yanshi Hengchang Graphite Products Project have completed putting up the steel framework of its electrodes plant and has also completed the construction of its office building, thus raising the chances to put its GE plant into operations by the end of 2019.

The 40,000 tonnes of UHP grade GE plant and 300,000 sets of negative electrode purification project was started in March this year with an annual investment of 500 million yuan. The project is located in the industrial park of Jilin Mingcheng Economic Development Zone and is spread across a total area of 95,000 square meters with a construction area of 66,500 square meters.

The project is divided into two phases. The first phase of the project will involve the construction of lithium battery anode material purification plant and production line with an annual production capacity of 300,000 sets; the second phase will build a new production line with an annual output of 40,000 tonnes of ultra-high power graphite electrodes. After the project is fully put into production, it is estimated that the annual output value will be 1.04 billion yuan which will enable 300 new jobs. The project is expected to inject new vitality into the industrial economic development of Panshi City and will also add to the country's already oversupplied electrodes market.

Supply glut continues in China's GE market

After registering a fall over the past few months, China's GE prices have stabilised since past three weeks. However, the graphite electrode market is still weak, the pessimistic sentiment in the market is relatively strong and the profits of the graphite electrode factory have been greatly reduced.

At present, some specifications and prices are close to the manufacturer's production cost. The electrode manufacturers have been reluctant to sell at low prices, and the enterprises are mainly maintaining old customers. China graphite electrode diameter 300-600mm mainstream priceS: Ordinary power RMB 18,000-23,000/MT, High power RMB 22000-26000/MT and Ultra high power RMB 23000-60000/MT as per China's CBC data.

In the case of raw materials, domestic needle coke prices remained stable this week. The graphite electrode market continues to be weak, and companies are eager to purchase needle coke. The demand for needle coke in the negative electrode material is gradually increasing. The domestic needle-shaped coke (cooked) mainstream transaction price is 1.9-2.2 million yuan per tonne and the domestic needle-shaped coke (raw) mainstream transaction price is 1.1-1.3 million yuan per tonne.

The market participants believe that the current steel mill procurement is basically over and at present, the overall capacity of the domestic graphite electrode market is excessive, the inventory of GE enterprises has increased, and domestic steel mills have been purchasing the same at a reduced price. Many enterprises have set their sights on foreign markets and the short-term prices are expected to fluctuate.