Reasons for the price increase of needle coke
Thread Content
Recently, the price of needle coke has risen rapidly, beyond people’s expectations, mainly due to the increase in the prices of ultra-high power graphite electrodes, which are the end products of needle coke. Due to environmental pressures, low-quality steel was banned at the end of June, providing abundant raw material (scrap steel) for electric arc furnace steelmaking. These factors are all contributors to the rise in the price of needle coke. Let’s discuss it together. What other factors influence the price of needle coke, and how much longer can its price remain at such a high level?
Acicular coke is a high-quality variety that is seeing significant development within carbon materials. It appears as a silver-gray, metallic-looking porous solid; its structure features distinct flow patterns, with large and few pores that are slightly oval in shape. The particles have a high length-to-width ratio, exhibiting a fibrous or acicular texture, and feel smooth to the touch. It serves as a raw material for producing high-end carbon products such as ultra-high power electrodes, special carbon materials, carbon fibers, and their composite materials. Based on the different raw materials used in production, needle coke can be divided into oil-based needle coke and coal-based needle coke. Acicular coke produced from petroleum residue as raw material is an oil-based acicular coke ； Pinacol coke produced from coal tar pitch and its distillates as raw materials is coal-based pinacol coke.
Graphite electrodes are a niche product; when there are no environmental impacts, their price elasticity is not very high, and their prices fluctuate in a sawtooth pattern. In the past, most of the raw material used for these electrodes, namely needle coke, was imported, and pricing was done on an annual basis with little variation in prices. Now, there are also several domestic manufacturers, which will lead to changes in the pricing mechanism; consequently, the prices of needle coke are likely to follow this same sawtooth pattern in the future. Currently, the price of needle coke is extremely high. The profits from scrap steel arc furnaces can sustain such prices in the short term; it should be possible to maintain high prices for 3-6 months. After that, these inflated prices will no longer hold. The shortage of low-quality needle coke will soon be addressed by several domestic companies, and as a result, prices will drop.