[SMM Analysis] Demand Declines While Costs Remain High, Anode Prices Stagnate

SMM February 6 News:

This week, anode prices remained in a state of contention. Cost side, due to the previously low inventory of raw material low-sulphur petroleum coke and the adjustment of tax policy, the price of low-sulphur petroleum coke continued to rise this week. As the price of low-sulphur petroleum coke approached that of oil-based green needle coke, the demand for needle coke from anode enterprises increased. Meanwhile, needle coke producers were also affected by the tax policy adjustment, leading to a slight increase in the price of oil-based green needle coke this week. Under the background of integrated development, the outsourced graphitisation market still faced an oversupply situation, with weak demand, and graphitisation prices remained stable this week. Demand side, affected by the Chinese New Year, downstream demand declined. In summary, due to persistently high production costs, anode producers showed a strong sentiment to stand firm on quotes. However, constrained by the slight decline in market demand during the Chinese New Year period, prices remained stable this week. It is expected that the price of anode materials will remain stable in the short term.

SMM New Energy Research Team

Cong Wang 021-51666838

Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870

Rui Ma 021-51595780

Ying Xu 021-51666707

Disheng Feng 021-51666714

Yujun Liu 021-20707895

Yanlin Lü 021-20707875

Ye Yuan 021-51595792

Chensi Lin 021-51666836

Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711

Haohan Zhang 021-51666752

Zihan Wang 021-51666914

Xiaoxuan Ren 021-20707866

Yushuo Liang 021-20707892

Jie Wang 021-51595902

Yang Xu 021-51666760

Mengqi Xu 021-20707868