Market Prices and Analysis of Silicon Carbide& Alumina in March 2017

In March, the market quotes of silicon carbide remained stable in Ningxia. The market prices of 98 black silicon carbide block materials were around 5400-5500 Yuan/ton; 97 black silicon carbide block materials around 5300-5400 Yuan/ton; 90 black silicon carbide block materials around 3700-3800 Yuan/ton; The market prices including tax of silicon carbide deoxidizer (SiC: 75%, Particle size: 0-10mm) were around 2600-3000 Yuan/ton. The market quotes stabilized compared with that in February.

Although the operating rate of production enterprises was improved in March, but the prices of coal kept going up in the first quarter. At the same time, steel plants, refractory material plants and other related downstream enterprises all had a good supply of inventory, so the market demand was not improved greatly with the recovery of production. Therefore, the silicon carbide market was temporarily stable. At present, the prices of anthracite(raw materials of silicon carbide) are continuously increased, and in short supply, which will influence the prices of silicon carbide in the future.

In early March, domestic alumina prices were fluctuant. In Henan, the market quotes of industrial alumina were around 3100-3200 Yuan/ton, with an decrease of 200 Yuan/ton compared with that in February; In Shandong, the market prices of industrial alumina were around 3020-3120 Yuan/ton, with an decrease of 80-100 Yuan/ton compared with that in February.

According to analysis, the price decrease of industrial alumina was resulted from environmental factors and yield factors. It is learned that the Ministry of Environmental Protection has issued 2017 Work Plan for the control of air pollution, which covers Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan and so on.

This environmental clean up influences electrolytic aluminum plants that restricted the output by more than 30%, which will restrain the short-term demand for alumina. Many electrolytic aluminum manufacturers are basically in wait-and-see state, and limit the purchase prices of alumina. In addition, alumina prices began to rise since October 2016, so the production is also increased gradually. It is expected that the industrial alumina prices will continue to go down over a short period of time as the production of alumina continues to expand and the downstream demand weakens.