Northwestern Shanxi's Datong city commissioned 20,000 tonnes/year of ultra-high power graphite electrodes' capacity on 18 November, according to the Shanxi Daily. The CNY 400 million ($60m) investment project only took 60 days to complete equipment installation and hot testing. The estimated annual production value will be CNY 1.5 billion. Long-lasting strong demand and a supply shortage have kept graphite electrode prices high and prompted the accelerated approval and construction period, Kallanish notes.

Datong city mayor Wu Hongwen attended the project signing ceremony in late October.

Global graphite electrode prices have taken off since the first quarter of 2017 due to a global supply shortage. The mislabelled steel clearance campaign has pushed more Chinese steelmakers to turn to electric arc furnaces due to induction furnace prohibition and cheap scrap prices. Pollution restrictions meanwhile have also reduced Chinese electrode output. Global graphite electrode capacity was reduced after a series of mergers and low prices in previous years, especially in Japan and Germany.