Development status and trend analysis of Petroleum coke industry in China, Shandong is the main producing area

A. petroleum coke classification

Petroleum coke is crude oil distillation will be light and heavy oil separation, heavy oil and then through the process of hot cracking, transformed into products, from the appearance, coke for irregular shape, size of black block (or particles), metallic luster, coke particles with porous structure, the main element composition of carbon, Hold 80wt%. (wt=weight)

According to the processing method can be divided into raw coke and cooked coke. The former is obtained by the coke tower of the delayed coking device, also known as the original coke; The latter is produced by calcination (1300°C), also known as calcined coke.

According to the sulfur content, it can be divided into high sulfur coke (sulfur content is more than 4%), medium sulfur coke (sulfur content is 2%-4%) and low sulfur coke (sulfur content is less than 2%).

According to the different microstructure, it can be divided into sponge coke and needle coke. The former porous as spongy, also known as ordinary coke. The latter dense as fibrous, also known as high-quality coke.

According to different forms can be divided into needle coke, projectile coke or spherical coke, sponge coke, powder coke four kinds.

B. petroleum coke output

Most of the petroleum coke produced in China belongs to low sulfur coke, which is mainly used in aluminum smelting and graphite manufacturing. The other is mainly used for carbon products, such as graphite electrode, anode arc, used for steel, non-ferrous metals ; Carbonized silicon products, such as various grinding wheels, sand, sand paper, etc.; Commercial calcium carbide for the production of synthetic fiber, acetylene and other products; It can also be used as fuel, but when doing fuel, it needs to use the graded impact mill to carry out ultrafine grinding. After making coke powder through the equipment, it can be burned. The coke powder is mainly used as fuel in some glass factories and coal water slurry plants.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China's petroleum coke output in 2020 was 29.202 million tons, up 4.15% year on year, and from January to April 2021, China's petroleum coke output was 9.85 million tons.

The production of petroleum coke in China is mainly concentrated in east China, northeast China and South China, with the highest production in east China. In the whole east China region, Shandong province has the highest production of petroleum coke, which reached 10.687 million tons in 2020. The output of petroleum coke in Shandong province not only ranks first in east China, but also ranks first in all provinces and cities in China, and the output of petroleum coke is far superior to other provinces and cities.

C. Petroleum coke import and export

China is one of the major importers of petroleum coke, which mainly comes from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia. According to the data of China Customs, the import volume of petroleum coke in China from 2015 to 2020 showed an overall upward trend. In 2019, the import volume of petroleum coke in China was 8.267 million tons, and in 2020, it was 10.277 million tons, an increase of 24.31% compared with 2019.

In 2020, the import amount of Petroleum coke in China was usd 1.002 billion, down 36.66% year-on-year. In 2020, the import volume of petroleum coke reached its peak, but the import value of petroleum coke decreased. As the global economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the price of petroleum coke in the international market has also fallen, which has stimulated the import of petroleum coke in China and increased the import volume of petroleum coke, but reduced the import amount.

According to the data of China Customs, China's petroleum coke exports showed a declining trend, especially in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19, China's petroleum coke exports declined significantly, by 2020, China's petroleum coke exports decreased to 1.784 million DOLLARS, a year-on-year decline of 22.13%; The value of exports was $459 million, down 38.8% year on year.

D. Development trend of petroleum coke industry

In the long run, the petroleum coke market is still full of many uncertainties, and the supply and demand pattern of petroleum coke is still facing more challenges. From the perspective of capacity structure, in the short term, due to the slow delivery of residual oil hydrogenation capacity, delayed coking device delivery is still the main direction. In the long term, the supply side of petroleum coke will also be restricted by environmental protection, policies and other factors, and there will continue to be new technologies and more environmentally friendly substitutes. Environmental protection policy is gradually becoming normal, and production can not be limited to achieve ultra-low emissions. With the improvement of enterprises' own environmental protection devices, the impact of environmental protection policy on the market will be weakened, and the influence of market supply and demand relationship and raw material purchase price of enterprises will be enhanced.

Demand side, petroleum coke downstream industry will continue to introduce various economic challenges, policy factors, electrolytic aluminium enterprises currently subject to alumina, electricity price, cost is high to have profit to speak of, so future aluminum companies have a complete industry chain has a bigger profit, as the aluminium market layout will slowly change, centrally will gradually transfer capacity, It will affect the pattern and development of pre baked anode market and carbon market in the future.

In the medium and long term, the macroeconomic environment, national industry policies, product supply structure, inventory changes, raw material prices, downstream consumption, emergencies, etc., are likely to become the leading factors affecting the oil coke market at different stages. Therefore, enterprises should analyze the status quo of petroleum coke industry, learn more about relevant policies at home and abroad, predict the future development direction of petroleum coke market, timely avoid risks, seize opportunities, timely change and innovation, is a long-term solution.

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