By the end of 2017, China’s annual graphite electrode production capacity amounted to 920,000 mt, while the actual output for the year totaled 590,900 mt, with a capacity utilization rate of 64.23 percent, as announced by China Carbon Industry Association (CCIA).
Due to the stimulus of high price and high profitability of graphite electrodes, new graphite electrode capacity currently under construction in China amounts to 524,000 mt, which will result in a basically balanced situation between supply and demand in the graphite electrode market in 2018. However, the Chinese graphite electrode market will face oversupply by the end of 2020 when all projects have entered production, the CCIA stated.