Latest Market Trends and Prices for Negative-Electrode Materials (Mar. 22) – January Negative-Electrode Production Reached 47,000 Tons, a Year-on-Year Increase of 145.7%
Recently, the negative electrode material market has shown a positive trend, with companies in the first and second tiers largely operating at full capacity. Currently, the main bottlenecks for negative electrode manufacturers lie in graphitization and the raw material supply chain. Graphitization capacity is insufficient, and it will take time for newly expanded capacity to come online. Meanwhile, prices of low-sulfur coke and needle coke—the key raw materials—continue to rise, and maintenance schedules further tighten the market supply situation. In terms of pricing, negative electrode material companies are strongly inclined to raise prices. With supply tightness as a supporting factor, they feel more confident in negotiating price increases with downstream customers. It is expected that the probability of negative electrode material prices rising in the second quarter is relatively high.
Downstream demand is improving, leading to a significant increase in negative electrode production. In January, negative electrode material production reached 47,000 tons, up 145.7% year-on-year and 1.9% month-on-month. The operating rate of the negative electrode material market remains high, supported by active procurement from downstream power battery companies; major domestic negative electrode manufacturers continue to operate at full capacity. Looking ahead, some leading negative electrode companies may be stocking up in preparation for capacity expansion in Q1 2021, and overall production is expected to remain stable.
There are differences in corporate positioning, and leading enterprises exhibit high capacity utilization rates. In our analysis of negative-electrode production volume, average prices, and production capacity for January, we can see that due to greater variations in the composition of negative-electrode materials and differences in process technologies, each company operates within a distinct price range. In terms of production volume, the top five companies in January were Betray, Shanghai Suncore, Jiangxi Zichen, Dongguan Kajin, and Shijiazhuang Shangtai, accounting for 22%, 15%, 15%, 15%, and 9% of the market share, respectively.
In January, the tax-inclusive price of negative electrodes remained flat compared to the previous month, at 43,000 yuan per ton. Among these, high-end products fetched prices around 70,000 to 90,000 yuan per ton, mid-range products around 40,000 to 60,000 yuan per ton, and low-end products about 20,000 to 30,000 yuan per ton. Competition has intensified for mid- and low-end products.
Raw Materials: The price of petroleum coke rose sharply, while the price of needle coke remained largely stable. In January, the price of domestically produced oil-based needle coke (electrode coke) rose by 0.9% month-on-month to RMB 6,000 per ton, and the price of domestically produced oil-based needle coke (negative electrode coke) increased by 0.4% month-on-month to RMB 4,600 per ton. The price of domestically produced petroleum coke rose by 19.2% month-on-month to RMB 3,600 per ton. In January, the price of imported oil-based needle coke remained unchanged at USD 50,000 per ton, while the price of imported coal-based needle coke stayed flat at USD 80,000 per ton.
Processing fees: In January, the price of graphitization processing rose by 5.4% month-on-month to RMB 15,000 per ton. Depending on product performance, current graphitization prices range from RMB 15,000 to RMB 18,000 per ton. As needle coke production gradually recovers and graphitization processing capacity continues to be released, this is expected to help drive down prices along the downstream industrial chain. According to statistics, domestic negative-electrode companies currently have planned new graphitization capacity totaling approximately 300,000 tons (some of which have already entered production). As this graphitization capacity is progressively brought online, it is likely to further contribute to downward pressure on prices.
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