With the environmental protection supervision and supply-side reform, the demand for needle coke for ultra-high power and high power graphite electrodes has been accelerated, and the demand for needle coke for artificial graphite anode of lithium-ion power battery has increased year by year in recent years, which has further boosted the demand for needle coke in the market. In 2017, demand for needle coke surged, while supply was seriously inadequate, and the price of needle coke soared. With the release of domestic production and new capacity in 2018, the supply shortage eased slightly, but the price of needle coke remained high.
In 2019, domestic needle coke prices entered a downward trend, mainly due to the decline of domestic graphite electrode prices. By the end of May, domestic UHP450 prices had fallen by 552.17%. At present, the price of cooked coke is between 18-22 thousand yuan/ton and that of raw coke is between 10-13 thousand yuan/ton.