Increase in the proportion of large-sized ultra-high power graphite electrodes

1. The industrial chain of graphite electrode industry

(1) Upstream industries

The main raw materials for graphite electrodes are petroleum coke and needle coke, with coal tar pitch as the main additive. The raw materials account for a large proportion of the production cost of graphite electrodes, accounting for over 65%. Among them, petroleum coke is the main raw material for ordinary power graphite electrodes, petroleum coke and needle coke are the main raw materials for high-power graphite electrodes, and needle coke is the main raw material for ultra-high power graphite electrodes.

Petroleum coke is a byproduct of oil refining, which is a solid particle produced by delayed coking using petroleum slag as raw material. It is widely used in fields such as graphite electrodes, electrolytic aluminum, glass, and metallic silicon; Needle coke is a high-quality coke with extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion and easy graphitization. It has good conductivity and thermal conductivity, and is mainly used in high-power and ultra-high power graphite electrodes and negative electrode materials for lithium batteries.

(2) Downstream industries

Graphite electrodes are mainly used in fields such as steelmaking, silicon refining, and yellow phosphorus refining. Among them, ultra-high power graphite electrodes are used in ultra-high power electric furnace steelmaking, high-power graphite electrodes are used in high-power electric furnace steelmaking, and ordinary power graphite electrodes are used in ordinary power electric furnace steelmaking, silicon refining, yellow phosphorus refining, and so on.

Steel smelting is the main application field of graphite electrodes, accounting for about 80% of the total consumption of graphite electrodes. The development of the steel smelting industry is closely related to the development of the graphite electrode industry.

In 2022, the global crude steel output will decrease due to the continuous conflict between Russia-Ukraine conflict, the adjustment of monetary policies in Europe and the United States, the sharp rise in energy prices and other factors. According to the statistics of the World Iron and Steel Association, the global crude steel output will reach 1.8315 billion tons in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 4.3%, and China’s crude steel output will reach 1.013 billion tons, a year-on-year decrease of 2.1%. In 2023, the total global crude steel production was 1.8882 billion tons, which remained basically unchanged year-on-year. The total crude steel production of 71 countries and regions included in the agency’s statistics worldwide was 1.8497 billion tons, a slight decrease of 0.1% year-on-year. Looking at different regions, crude steel production in Europe, North America, and South America decreased year-on-year, while production in other regions increased year-on-year; In terms of countries, among the top ten steel producing countries in the world, Japan, Germany, Türkiye and Brazil saw their crude steel output decline year on year, while other countries saw year-on-year growth, especially India, where the output growth reached 11.8%. According to data from the China Steel Association, China’s crude steel production in 2023 was 1019.08 million tons, unchanged year-on-year; But under the guidance of the “dual carbon” goal, the country vigorously develops electric furnace short process steelmaking, which is in line with the international development trend.