The two Chinese biggies, Shanghai Baosteel Chemical Co. Ltd (a subsidiary of Baosteel Group) and Fangda Carbon (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carbon New Materials Technology Co. Ltd) has come together to jointly set up a UHP (Ultra-High Power) grade graphite electrode plant under the name of ‘Boafang Carbon Material Technology Co. Ltd’.
The capacity of this unit is expected to be around 100,000 tonnes per year and is planned to put into operations by 2020. The registered capital of this joint venture is RMB 1.3 billion (USD 190 million) with Baosteel Chemicals having 51% shares in the new company.
The project is to be set up in Honggu Park of Lanzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone in Gansu province in Northwest China and the total investment estimated in the feasibility study of the project is RMB 2.7 billion (USD 392 million).
Baosteel Chemical Co. Ltd a subsidiary of steel conglomerate Baosteel Group is mainly engaged in the production and sales of high-valued added chemical products that are used in various industries such as pesticides, construction, medicine, plastics, fuel etc. As of 31 Dec’17, the company has 1.65 MnT of tar processing capacity, 240,000 tonnes of carbon black capacity, and 350,000 tonnes of crude ben and modified asphalt capacity.
Fangda Carbon which is headquartered in Lanzhou city of Gansu province is China’s leading graphite electrodes manufacturer along with producing various other carbon products. The company`s comprehensive production capacity of carbon products reached 230,000 tonnes, and the production capacity of raw materials is 204,000 tonnes, including 10,000 tonnes of graphite electrodes, 30,000 tonnes of carbon bricks, 10,000 tonnes of new carbon materials, 60,000 tonnes of needle coke and 144,000 tonnes of pet coke.
China’s Graphite electrode production statistics
The demand for graphite electrodes in China has been surging especially since last year amid increased promotion of electric furnace usage to produce steel as a part of country’s supply-side reforms. According to IC Carbon’s data, the graphite electrode output in 2017 increased by 16% y-o-y basis to 590,000 tonnes whereas its sales volumes were up by 20% at 591,700 tonnes. The production and sales of UHP grade graphite electrodes increased by 43% and 42% respectively during last year against 2016.
In July 2018, 18 key graphite electrode manufacturers in China produced a total of 53,000 tonnes of GE, an increase of 5% against previous month whereas the export volumes of GE from China in the first six months of 2018 (Jan-Jun) increased by 30% against the corresponding period of the previous year and is recorded at 64,160 tonnes.