Graphite is mainstream cathode materials, lithium battery drives the graphitization demand in recent years, domestic anode graphitization capacity is important in Inner Mongolia, the market supply shortages, graphitization has risen more than 77%, negative electrode graphitization brownouts influence continuous fermentation capacity, power rationing will influence graphitization production capacity of more than 50% this month, plus power brownouts, yunnan and sichuan Graphitization capacity is tense, and the downstream demand is strong, the supply gap will be more and more large.
Graphitized raw material prices are rising
Low sulfur petroleum coke, needle coke as the main raw material of artificial graphite anode, low sulfur petroleum coke production, inventory continues to be low, demand exceeds supply. Needle coke market driven by raw material costs, insufficient inventory price boost.
Graphitization supply continues to tighten under dual control of energy consumption
The policy of “double control” of energy consumption has helped to limit power production in many places. Graphitization is a key process in the production of artificial graphite anode materials, accounting for about 50% of the cost of anode materials. The main cost is electricity. Graphitization capacity more concentrated in the electricity price cheap region, such as Inner Mongolia and YunGuiChuan areas, including Inner Mongolia is one of the largest hub, graphitization capacity domestic graphitization capacity accounted for 47%, affected by the environmental protection and power brownouts policy, some small graphitization processing has been forced to shut down, big capacity is insufficient, also causes graphitization tight supply. In addition, with the coming of the heating season and the Winter Olympics in the fourth quarter, the negative graphitization market is expected to get worse and hardly improve.
The proportion of artificial graphite continues to rise
Compared with natural graphite, artificial graphite has better consistency and cycling, which is more suitable for power and energy storage. The proportion of artificial graphite continues to increase, pushing up the demand for graphitization capacity of anode materials. In the first half of 2021, the proportion of artificial graphite products in anode materials rose to 85%,
Graphitization processing costs are rising
At the same time, the increase of electricity cost leads to the increase of graphitization processing cost, which is 22,000-24,000 yuan/ton. Some zero orders offer 23,000-25,000 yuan/ton, which is more than 100% higher than 12,000-15,000 yuan/ton at the beginning of 2021. At present, the highest quotation of graphitization is 25,000-26,000 yuan/ton.
The graphitization capacity shortage is expected to last until the first half or even the end of 2022.
Downstream demand continues to rise, the gap between supply and demand increasingly prominent
In the first two years, there was a structural excess of negative graphitized capacity, with low prices and less graphitized capacity, resulting in a mismatch between supply and demand. Mainstream manufacturers started graphitization capacity expansion at the end of 2020, but the graphitization construction cycle is long, requiring at least half a year to one year, and the release cycle of graphitization capacity is also lengthening. While the downstream demand continues to rise, the demand for anode materials is increasing rapidly, and the gap between supply and demand is increasingly prominent.
Post time: Oct-29-2021