China's Graphite Electrode Export Performance Remains Bright in April Amid Tariff Storms

2025-11-07 17:23:42

According to the customs data, in April 2025, China's Graphite electrode export performance is still bright, the total export volume is 30,200 tonnes, a decrease of 5.58% compared with the previous year, and an increase of 20.23% year-on-year. Under the environment that the tariff policy brought great pressure to graphite electrode enterprises in April, the export did not weaken as expected, but showed strong toughness.

In terms of countries, South Korea, Iran and Russia became the top three of China's graphite electrode exports, and the export volume to these three countries showed a chain growth. 0.42 million tonnes of graphite electrodes were exported to South Korea in April, an increase of 89.66% over the same period, topping the list; 0.37 million tonnes of graphite electrodes were exported to Iran, an increase of 49.31%; 0.24 million tonnes of graphite electrodes were exported to Russia, an increase of 20.23% over the same period; 0.24 million tonnes of graphite electrodes were exported to Iran, an increase of 20.23% over the same period. was 0.24 million tonnes, up 19.79% YoY.

Among them, the South Korean market increased the most, and this significant growth mainly stemmed from the resumption of production by local steel enterprises after South Korea initiated an anti-dumping investigation on Chinese steel products, which in turn indirectly pushed up the demand for graphite electrodes. In addition, the price increase of local steel products in the United States in April exceeded the impact of the Trump administration's 25% tariffs, making South Korean steel products in the U.S. market more price advantage, thus stimulating South Korea's steel exports to the United States, which also drove the demand for graphite electrodes in China. The price of a representative steel product, hot rolled coil, for example, is about US$1,000 per tonne in the US mainland, while the price of South Korean products is even lower, at about KRW 1.1 million (about US$800).

The volume of graphite electrodes exported to the U.S. in April was 0.02 million tonnes, a decrease of 77.55% YoY. This is mainly affected by the U.S. trade policy, high tariff barriers make Chinese graphite electrodes in the U.S. market competitiveness fell sharply.

Despite the good performance of export data in April, the graphite electrode production side has seen obvious pressure, orders and business expectations shrinking at the same time, the uncertainty of tariff policy is exacerbating the risk of export trade, some of the originally stable export orders may be cancelled or reduced due to the adjustment of tariff policy.