Price data

According to the data from the business associations’list, the average price of petroleum coke products of the major domestic refineries in July was 1382.50 yuan/ton at the beginning of the month, 1297.50 yuan/ton at the end of the month, down 85 yuan/ton in the month, with a monthly increase and decrease of -6.15%. Petroleum coke market prices continued to decline in July.

On July 31, the petroleum coke commodity index was 100.92, down 0.19 points from yesterday, down 35.14% from the cyclical peak of 155.59 points (2018-01-25), and up 50.87% from the lowest point of 66.89 on March 28, 2016. (Note: Period refers to 2012-09-30 to date)

II. Analysis of Influencing Factors

Products: Petroleum coke delivery in July was general, and downstream enterprises were not active in purchasing at the end of the month. The refineries in Zibo area of Shandong Province require a 30% production limit from August to September. The specific rules for the production limit have not yet been promulgated. The coking unit of Dongming Petrochemical Company stopped operation and maintenance on July 13 and is expected to start operation in late August. Petroleum coke prices fell by 50-100 yuan/ton this month.

Industry Chain: Upstream: According to the monitoring of business associations, WTI crude oil in the United States was 58.47 US dollars per barrel at the beginning of the month, 58.05 US dollars per barrel at the end of the month, with a weekly increase and decrease of -0.72%; Brent crude oil was 66.55 US dollars per barrel at the beginning of the month and 64.72 US dollars per barrel at the end of the month, with a weekly increase and decrease of -2.75%. Several factors, such as tension between the United States and Iraq, the Gulf of Mexico storm and worries about oversupply, affected the trend of international crude oil prices in July. Downstream: The market of calcined coke and pre-baked anode has no obvious favorable support. Most of them are purchased on demand. Some enterprises are in a loss state, and near the end of the month, the downstream capital pressure is high. Under the influence of environmental protection factors, the speed of new and resumed production capacity of domestic electrolytic aluminium enterprises is much lower than expected, which limits the growth rate of domestic electrolytic aluminium supply. According to the data of business associations, the average market price of aluminium (99.70) as of July 31 was 13923.33 yuan per ton.

Industry: According to the price monitoring of business associations, in July 2019, there were 7 kinds of commodities rising annually in the energy sector, including 4 kinds of commodities with an increase of more than 5%, accounting for 25% of the monitored commodities in the sector; the top three commodities were MTBE (12.29%), diesel (8.34%) and gasoline (8.07%). There are 9 kinds of commodities falling annually, and 2 kinds of commodities falling by more than 5% accounted for 12.5% of the monitored commodities in the plate. The products of the first three declines were methanol (-9.55%), petroleum coke (-6.15%) and Brent crude oil (-2.75%). This month’s average rise and fall was 0.98%.

3. Future Market Forecast

Petroleum coke analysts of business associations predict that in July, the petroleum coke market will continue to decline, the downstream carbon enterprises, calcined coke and electrolytic aluminium market will not have obvious favorable support, and the downstream will mainly purchase on demand; in late August, the start-up rate of coking units will increase, and the supply of Petroleum Coke will increase; in August, petroleum coke is expected to follow. Continue the downward trend in July, the price range is about 1150-1350 yuan/ton.

Additional: Basic Information of Petroleum Coke

1. Composition and Characteristics

Petroleum coke (PETroleum coke) is a product of crude oil which is separated by distillation from light and heavy oils and then transformed into heavy oils by thermal cracking. From the appearance, coke is irregular in shape, black lumps (or particles) of different sizes, with metallic luster, coke particles have porous structure, and the main element composition is as follows: Carbon occupies 80 wt% (WT is the English abbreviation of Weight, which means weight percentage content). 5 WT% is equivalent to 50,000 PPM (PPM is in millions). ) The rest are hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and metal elements. Petroleum coke has its unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties. It is a non-volatile carbon in the heating part. Volatile substances and mineral impurities (sulfur, metal compounds, water, ash, etc.) determine the chemical properties of coke. Porosity and density in physical properties determine the reactivity and thermophysical properties of coke. Mechanical properties include hardness, wear resistance, strength and other mechanical properties, particle composition and other processing and transportation, stacking, storage and other properties.

2. Main uses

Petroleum coke can be used in graphite, smelting and chemical industries depending on its quality. Cement industry is the largest consumer of petroleum coke in the world, and its consumption accounts for 40% of the market share of petroleum coke. Secondly, petroleum coke is calcined to produce pre-baked anode for aluminium smelting or graphite electrode for steelmaking, and 22% of petroleum coke is calcined.

The main uses of petroleum coke are pre-baked anode paste for aluminium electrolysis, carbon additives for carbon industry production, graphite electrodes, industrial silicon smelting and fuels. It is mainly used for making carbon products, such as graphite electrodes, anode arcs, making aluminium anodes, providing steelmaking, non-ferrous metals, aluminium smelting; making silicon carbide products, such as grinding wheels, sandpaper, etc; making commercial carbide for making synthetic fibers, acetylene and other products; also used as boilers, vapor-electric symbiosis, cement kilns, etc. Fuel.