2024 Petroleum Coke Price Review [SMM Analysis]

SMM, November 18: As an important raw material for prebaked anodes, the market price of petroleum coke directly affects the cost of prebaked anodes. In 2024, the petroleum coke market overall showed a consolidation state, but due to different specifications, price trends diverged. Relatively speaking, low-sulphur petroleum coke showed a trend of rising first and then falling throughout the year. Medium and high-sulphur petroleum coke mainly fluctuated rangebound. Besides domestic coke, port petroleum coke inventory also showed a destocking trend throughout the year.

In north-east China, from January to April, due to the resumption of the anode materials market, the production schedules of downstream battery plants increased, leading to a rise in demand and causing prices to fluctuate upward. However, entering Q2, the execution of downstream orders by anode companies and the number of new orders decreased, leading to a gradual weakening in the procurement demand for petroleum coke. Coupled with the domestic supply surplus, the price of low-sulphur petroleum coke began to fluctuate downward slightly.

By October, the situation changed. Due to the good performance of downstream orders from anode materials companies, the petroleum coke inventory of enterprises had dropped to a low level, prompting enterprises to actively restock. This combination of factors caused the price of low-sulphur coke to shift from falling to rising.

In Shandong, the price of medium-sulphur petroleum coke showed slight fluctuations overall. In Q1, due to the improvement in the anode market, the trading activity in the petroleum coke market increased, enhancing the procurement enthusiasm of downstream carbon enterprises, thereby supporting a slight price increase. Entering Q2, as more petroleum coke refineries underwent maintenance, the domestic supply of petroleum coke slightly decreased. In this situation, coupled with the support of just-in-time procurement from downstream, the price of petroleum coke maintained a steady and slight upward trend. Subsequently, as market procurement sentiment cooled, despite the support from just-in-time procurement by carbon enterprises, prices still showed a downward trend.

Entering September, due to poor profitability of local refineries, enterprises switched raw materials to reduce costs, causing the sulphur content of some refinery petroleum coke products to increase. Combined with frequent maintenance shutdowns by some enterprises, the supply of medium-sulphur petroleum coke became slightly tight, and prices began to trend stronger.

For high-sulphur petroleum coke, prices slightly increased in Q1 driven by market sentiment, then mainly fluctuated downward.