Driven by downstream market demand, my country’s special graphite production is gradually increasing

Special graphite, also known as three-high graphite, is one of the subcategories of new carbon materials. It refers to graphite products with a carbon mass fraction greater than 99% and features high density, high strength, and high purity. Compared with other graphite types, special graphite has the advantages of high temperature resistance, good chemical stability, easy processing, and good thermal and electrical conductivity. There are many types of special graphite, which can be roughly divided into fine-structured graphite, medium-coarse-structured graphite, etc. Among them, fine-structure graphite can be subdivided into isostatic graphite, molded graphite, etc. Special graphite can be processed into graphite plates, graphite rods, graphite boxes, graphite saggers and other products.

With the continuous advancement of production technology, the comprehensive performance of special graphite has been greatly improved, and its application fields have gradually broadened. It has been widely used in photovoltaics, lithium batteries, nuclear industry, chemical industry, rare earths, metal smelting, casting, new energy and other fields. Among them, photovoltaics has become the largest application field of special graphite, accounting for 33.84%; followed by the lithium battery field, accounting for 18.28%; the nuclear industry ranks third, accounting for 14.05%.

In the field of photovoltaics, special graphite is mainly used in related components in the graphite thermal field of single crystal silicon growth furnace. In the field of lithium batteries, special graphite is mainly used as anode material for lithium batteries. In addition, in the field of casting, special graphite is often used to produce crystallizers and plays an important role in the process of casting brass and pure copper. With the rapid development of my country’s photovoltaic, lithium battery, casting and other markets, the market demand for special graphite has grown steadily.

According to the “In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report on Special Graphite Industry 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, with the The structure of my country’s special graphite industry is gradually upgrading, and some backward production capacities with unstandardized management are gradually being eliminated. However, because new projects need to be reviewed by relevant departments, it is more difficult to add special graphite production capacity. At present, my country’s special graphite market is in a state of short supply. In 2022, my country’s demand for special graphite will be 205,700 tons, a year-on-year increase of 32.50%; the output will be 107,800 tons, an increase of 21.74% compared with 2021. There is a large gap between my country’s special graphite production and market demand, and large quantities of imports from abroad are still needed to fill the gap. Therefore, my country’s special graphite industry is relatively highly dependent on foreign countries.

Industry analysts said that at this stage, there are a large number of companies in the special graphite market and a stable competition pattern has not yet been formed. Foreign special graphite companies mainly include Toyo Carbon, Mersen, SGL, etc. Domestic special graphite companies mainly include Five Star New Materials, Sinosteel New Materials, Dongfang Carbon, Ningxin New Materials, Kaiyuan Special Graphite, etc. Foreign special graphite companies started earlier and occupied most of my country’s market with their advanced production technology. However, in recent years, my country’s special graphite enterprises have developed rapidly, the gap between production technology and international advanced production levels has gradually narrowed, market competitiveness has gradually improved, and domestic substitution is expected in the future.