How much Graphite Electrodes does Key Countries Exported in 2018?

India's Graphite Electrodes export in 2018 likely remain at similar level y-o-y

The U.S.'s imposition of sanctions on Iran which is India's one of the top destinations for graphite electrodes does not seems to affect India's electrodes exports in 2018.

In 2017, India exported about 80,447 tonnes of GE and although December numbers are not out as per our estimates India's GE export in 2018 will be around 80,850 tonnes.

Although before sanctions, Iran was the top GE importing country for India, scenario changed by the end of 2018. If we analyse India's top GE importing countries during Jan-Nov'18, Saudi Arabia topped the list with a quantity of 9,230 tonnes being imported from India. This was followed by Iran at 8,965 tonnes, Turkey at 7,986 tonnes, U.S. at 7,445 tonnes and Egypt at 5,784 tonnes.

Last year i.e. in 2017, Iran was the highest GE importing country from India at 13,909 tonnes, followed by U.S. and 8,208 tonnes, Turkey at 8,126 tonnes, and Egypt at 8,010 tonnes.

Japan's GE exports surged by 6% in 2018

Showa Denko and Tokai Carbon are the two electrodes manufacturers based in Japan. In 2018, the country's GE exports increased by 30% against last year as the same was recorded at 98,670 tonnes in 2017 and 104,705 in 2018.

The countries importing the highest quantity of GE from Japan in 2018 is same as last year, South Korea at 24,478 tonnes followed by U.S. at 12,287 tonnes and Taiwan at 9,022 tonnes.

EU's GE exports plunge by 14% y-o-y in 2018

European Union (EU) is one of the key GE producing and exporting region with the plants of Showa Denko (company acquired SGL Carbon's plant in Nov'17), Japan's Showa Denko, U.S.'s GrafTech and India's Graphite India.

EU's graphite electrodes exports have been recorded at 99,813 tonnes in 2018 whereas in 2017 the same had been recorded at 115,960 tonnes.

During Jan-Dec'18, EU made the highest electrodes exports to Turkey at 17,007 tonnes, followed by Russia at 14,904 tonnes and U.S. at 7,234 tonnes. The drop in region's GE exports in 2018 can be attributed to fall in exports to Russia, U.S. and Iran too.

Russia records growth in GE exports by 12% in 2018


Russia is also one of the key GE producing country with the presence of Energoprom Group with graphite electrodes capacity of 55,000 tonnes.

Russia's graphite electrodes exports have surged from 39,458 tonnes in 2017 to 44,388 tonnes in 2018. The country made highest exports to U.S. at 15,916 tonnes followed by Kazakstan at 6,578 tonnes Belarus at 4,471 tonnes and Germany at 2,797 tonnes.

U.S.'s GE export drops by 21% in 2018

U.S. is one of the key GE producing and exporting countries with the presence of GrafTech's plant which is headquartered in U.S. whereas Japan's Showa Denko and Tokai Carbon also have their plants in the U.S.

During Jan-Dec'18, U.S.'s graphite electrodes exports have been recorded at 15,003 tonnes, a plunge of 21% y-o-y against 19,003 tonnes in 2017 with highest exports being made to Canada at 5,594 tonnes, followed by Mexico at 4,403 tonnes and Argentina at 1,015 tonnes.