SMM, February 27:
This week, anode material prices showed an upward trend. Cost side, due to the previous surge in petroleum coke prices, anode enterprises reduced the procurement volume of petroleum coke, leading to a decline in downstream demand for petroleum coke. Meanwhile, as several refineries are still undergoing maintenance shutdowns, the supply of petroleum coke also decreased. Under the dual weak supply and demand scenario, low-sulphur petroleum coke prices remained stable at highs this week. Needle coke prices had previously increased due to multiple factors, but this week, affected by still sluggish demand and sufficient supply, needle coke prices stopped rising and remained stable. Limited by high electricity costs during the dry season, the profit margin for outsourced graphitisation is close to the cost line, generating price increase sentiment. However, the oversupply situation in outsourced graphitisation is difficult to change, and this week, outsourced graphitisation prices remained stable with a weak trend. Demand side, the market gradually recovered, and demand rebounded. Supply side, although market recovery led to increased demand, the supply volume of anode materials showed no significant improvement due to rapidly rising costs. Looking ahead, under the backdrop of high raw material costs, anode material prices may further increase with market recovery.
SMM New Energy Research Team
Cong Wang 021-51666838
Xiaodan Yu 021-20707870
Rui Ma 021-51595780
Disheng Feng 021-51666714
Yujun Liu 021-20707895
Yanlin Lü 021-20707875
Zhicheng Zhou 021-51666711
Haohan Zhang 021-51666752
Zihan Wang 021-51666914
Xiaoxuan Ren 021-20707866
Jie Wang 021-51595902
Yang Xu 021-51666760
Mengqi Xu 021-20707868
