Needle Coke Market Analysis and Future Prospect

According to insider’s analysis, the rise in needle coke was mainly influenced by the following factors：

1. Affected by the epidemic, the output of some factories is affected and cannot be fully supplied in the downstream market with large demand；

2. The epidemic affects transport, where traffic is limited in some areas and freight is soaring in unhindered areas；

3. Affected by the Russian-Ukrainian war，raw material prices rose；

4.Rising petroleum coke prices has driven the market climate and downstream companies has increased their willingness to buy needle coke；

From the downstream market, anode materials market will start a new round of price negotiations this month, whether the price increase of the needle coke can be accepted by anode market remains to be verified, while the anode market still has greater demand for raw materials, forming a strong support for needle coke prices.

As for the graphite electrode market, the combined effects of the epidemic, rainfall and funding factors, the first half of April downstream demand recovery for steel is still relatively slow. It is difficult to reverse the situation of loss and production limitation in EAF steel plant. The second half of the month with the epidemic and scrap supply situation improved, steel market production and sales are expected to improve. The demand for graphite electrodes will also grow. Domestic price of graphite electrode will stabilize first and then rise in April. Graphite electrode market demand for needle coke will also show a trend of stable first and then rise.

As for foreign market, overseas enterprises' local demand increases, cutting exports to China. Affected by global carbon neutrality in recent years, the amount of needle coke raw materials is reduced. The output of foreign needle coke enterprises is insufficient, while the demand of overseas graphite electrode market for China needle coke increases. At the same time, China ' s needle coke has the advantage of quantity and price, and the export of needle coke is expected to exceed 50,000 tons in 2022

In summary, the needle coke market is affected by downstream demand for raw materials and rising crude oil prices, and there is still room for needle coke prices to rise in April.

       Source：Xinluo Information