Supply and demand drive capacity expansion, presenting new opportunities for the graphite industry

       The graphene industry holds vast prospects

Graphene is currently the best-known material with excellent conductivity, especially suitable for high-frequency circuits, and can be used to produce future supercomputers. Graphene photonic sensors are used to detect information carried in optical fibers. At the same time, the transparent nature of graphene makes the electric boards made of it have superior light transmittance, which can be used in solar cell boxes and liquid crystal displays. Graphene can also be applied in fields such as transistors and gene sequencing, and used to manufacture ultra-thin and ultra-light aircraft materials, as well as ultra-tough bulletproof vests.

       As a substitute for silicon, graphene can replace crystalline silicon in the chip industry. The global demand for semiconductor crystalline silicon is around 2,500 tons per year. If graphene can replace one-tenth of crystalline silicon used to make integrated circuits, the market capacity would be at least over 500 billion yuan. Graphene can be used as a conductive material to make display devices. It is estimated that the global demand for ITO conductive glass will reach 85 million to 95 million pieces in 2011, indicating a huge potential for graphene substitution. Pay attention to related listed companies such as Fangda Carbon and Antai Technology. The expansion of synthetic diamond production capacity Synthetic diamond technology involves the reaction of carbonaceous materials such as graphite with certain metals to produce diamond, which is widely used in various fields of the national economy. With the continuous expansion of investment and infrastructure construction in China, factors such as technological upgrading in traditional processing industries, the transfer of global manufacturing to domestic locations, and the rapid development of emerging industries are driving the demand for synthetic diamond in China, which is showing a sustained and rapid growth trend.

The National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Ministry of Commerce have emphasized two priority development areas for superhard materials and products. The first is in the field of advanced manufacturing, where priority is given to the development of industrial automation. Since 2000, the import volume of superhard material products has been increasing at an average annual rate of over 209%, indicating that there is considerable room for development in the superhard material field in China.

The superhard material industry is a sub-industry of the diamond industry, which includes not only the composite (poly-crystal) superhard material industry but also the single-crystal superhard material industry. Since the turn of the century, China has firmly established itself as a major superhard material manufacturing country in the world, with an average annual compound growth rate of 16.4% over the past decade. Currently, China accounts for more than 90% of the global total.

       Growth rate of demand for specialty graphite

Special graphite mainly includes isostatic pressing graphite and needle coke, with a wide range of applications. Isostatic pressing graphite is primarily used in solar photovoltaics, semiconductors, continuous casting molds, electric discharge machining, nuclear power, and other fields. Driven especially by the photovoltaic industry, the demand for isostatic pressing graphite exceeds supply, resulting in persistently high prices. Looking at the domestic market demand, China's annual demand for isostatic pressing graphite is expected to surpass 30,000 tons in 2015. Pay attention to listed companies such as Boyun New Materials and Zhonggang Jitan.

       The annual demand for needle coke in China is around 400,000 tons, with 80% imported. High-grade products are entirely imported. Due to technological monopoly, needle coke is mainly produced by foreign companies.