graphite electrode category
Electric furnace steel production rate rebounded by 5 percentage points to 12%. The market price of ordinary power graphite electrode rose slightly by 1,000 yuan/ton, and the market price rose slightly by 1,000 yuan/ton.
1. The utilization rate of electric furnace steel capacity: This week increased by 4.97 percentage points from the previous month
According to the survey of 53 independent electric arc furnace steel mills across the country, as of March 12, the average operating rate of 53 independent electric arc furnaces across the country was 17.23%, which was an increase of 7.99% from last week; the capacity utilization rate was 12.58%, compared with last week. An increase of 4.97% last week.
According to Xin Lu Information reported on March 13, the domestic market price of ordinary power graphite electrode generally increased by about RMB 1,000/ton this week, mainly due to the increase in upstream raw material prices. The mainstream price of current specifications is RMB/ton.
Manufacturers producing ordinary power graphite electrodes in Hebei and other regions are slowly resuming production, and the supply is not much; high-power graphite electrodes are relatively stable; the price of ultra-high power and small-size graphite electrodes is still rising, and needle coke is currently on the market. The mainstream price of 30% content is about 1.5-15500 yuan/ton, an increase of 500 yuan/ton.
However, due to the low operating rate of downstream steel mills, the overall market demand is weak. As of Thursday, the mainstream price of specifications on the market is between 23,000 and 25,000 yuan/ton, and the price of specifications is between 36,000 and 37,000 yuan/ton.
2. Fubao scrap steel: monitoring of daily consumption of electric furnace steel in long and short processes
Fubao Scrap Report on March 13: This week, Fubao calculated that 49 independent electric furnace plants across the country consumed 16,500 tons of scrap per day this week, an increase of 10,000 tons from last week. In this week’s sample, 2 home appliance furnace factories in Jiangsu resumed production, 1 home appliance stove factory in Fujian resumed production, and 2 home appliance stove factories in Sichuan resumed production. In addition to the sample, about 3 companies in South China and Southwest China resumed production.
This week, the 70-year-old process steel mill used 59,700 tons of scrap per day, a slight increase from last week, and the scrap volume rebounded slowly. At present, the 70-parent process all received 47,000 tons this Sunday and 57,000 tons on the 12th. Supply and demand ushered in a turning point. The supply of scrap steel has eased, and it is expected that the scrap consumption of long-process steel mills may pick up next week.
This week, 32 full-process (high + transfer + electricity) steel mills consumed 58,000 tons of scrap per day, an increase of 8,900 tons from last week.
3. Two sets of price difference monitoring: the efficiency of scrap steel relative to pig iron in steelmaking raw materials is still not good
The variable cost difference between electric furnace steel and blast furnace-converter steel is mainly between graphite electrode and scrap. On March 13, 2020, the price of Tangshan pig iron is 2850 yuan/ton, and the price of Tangshan scrap steel is 2385 yuan/ton. Ultra-high power graphite electrode The price is RMB/ton. According to our calculations, compare the economic benefits of electric furnace steel and blast furnace-converter steel with “pig iron (excluding tax)-scrap-graphite electrode cost (2.5 kg per ton of steel)-300”. The efficiency of pig iron is still not good.
Steel sheets and Fujian materials are two types of scrap steel. Fujian materials are mainly used for smelting local steel. Steel materials have a wide range of uses. They can be used for electric furnace steel smelting and added to blast furnaces and converters for smelting. By observing the price difference between the two, it can be judged whether the ground steel is resuming production. Since the crackdown on ground steel in October 2016, the price difference between the steel material and the Fujian material has increased sharply. As of March 13, 2020, the steel material-Fujian The material price difference is 150 yuan/ton, which is significantly lower than the average of the second half of 2017 and the first half of 2018.