The negative electrode material market shows a double increase in supply and demand, while competition remains fierce.

In April, downstream battery factories had good start-ups. The leading negative electrode enterprises had relatively full start-ups, while small and medium-sized enterprises had relatively low start-ups. The overall market competition was still relatively fierce, and there was pressure on market price competition.

In March, negative electrode materials were produced according to orders, and inventory was not high. The overall start-up remained stable, and the start-up of some negative electrode enterprises decreased. It is expected that the output in April will be 195,000 tons, an increase of 13.57% month-on-month.

In April, the supply side was abundant. The leading enterprises had sufficient start-ups, and the downstream demand was stable. The order volume was basically the same as that in March, and the energy storage market was also stable.

As of April 17th, the average price of low-sulfur petroleum coke was 4,390 yuan/ton, a decrease of 536 yuan/ton month-on-month and a growth rate of 10.88%. The graphitization processing price was mostly near the loss line. Small and medium-sized enterprises even stopped production to reduce losses.Therefore, it mainly remained stable.

In March, the profit per ton of mid-end artificial graphite was -2,587 yuan/ton, an increase of 324 yuan/ton compared to last month, and the gross profit margin was -9.55%, an increase of 2.84 percentage points month-on-month. Calculated based on the use of high-priced raw materials in February, the profit of negative electrode materials in this month was still in the loss range. Although the price of negative electrode materials increased, it could not cover the cost increase brought by the rise in raw materials.

In March, the installed capacity of power batteries in China was 56.6 GWh, an increase of 62.3% month-on-month and 61.8% year-on-year. From January to March, the cumulative installed capacity of power batteries in China was 130.2 GWh, with a cumulative year-on-year growth rate of 52.8%. In April, the order volume of leading battery factories increased and decreased. It is expected to be basically the same as that in March month-on-month.

To sum up, in April, the negative electrode material market showed a double increase in supply and demand, and competition remained fierce. Recently, the raw material price rebounded, but there was still resistance for the negative electrode material price to continue to rise.