Not long ago, the European Commission announced that it had decided to terminate the anti-subsidy investigation of graphite electrode systems originating in China. This is great news for Chinese graphite electrode suppliers.
In simple terms, graphite electrodes are conductive materials formed by using petroleum coke, coal tar pitch, etc. as raw materials through a series of processes such as calcination, grinding, and graphitization. They are mainly used in the steel industry. The graphite electrode can input electric energy into the electric furnace, and use the high temperature generated by the arc between the electrode end and the charge as a heat source to melt the charge for steelmaking.
Steelmaking can be done through blast furnaces or electric arc furnaces. Electric arc furnace steelmaking mainly uses scrap steel as raw material for smelting, and has the characteristics of low carbon emissions (less than a quarter of blast furnace steelmaking). Globally, the proportion of electric arc furnace steelmaking is about 25%.
In the future, with the deepening of the dual-carbon strategy, it is the general trend to increase the proportion of electric arc furnace steelmaking. To make a simple calculation, the graphite electrode consumption of electric arc furnace is 0.9-4 kg/ton. According to China’s annual crude steel output of more than 1 billion tons (after all, it is a stock market), for every percentage point increase in the proportion of electric arc furnace steelmaking, for graphite Electrodes are in huge demand. According to statistics from professional institutions, the compound growth rate of graphite electrodes in the next five years will exceed 15%.
