EEC began the investigation of the dumping of Chinese graphite electrodes
The only manufacturer of electrodes for the metallurgical industry in the Russian Federation – EL 6 – initiated an anti -dumping investigation against similar products from China. Due to overproduction and restrictions in other markets, China can supply electrodes to the EAEU at prices below the cost. Analysts are waiting for an increase in duties to the EU level – 75%.
The Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) began an anti -dumping investigation regarding the 520–650 mm with a diameter of 520–650 mm supplied from China, which are used to melt steel in arc furnaces. The corresponding notification is published on the EEC website.
The application to the ECD was submitted by the only manufacturer of electrodes in Russia for the EL 6 metallurgical industry (previously EPM group). The company unites three enterprises in Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk and Novocherkassk. In addition to electrodes and anodes, it produces graphite powders. In general, “EL 6” includes itself in the five of the world manufacturers of carleographic products. The fractions of the EPM were owned by the structures of the Renova group, today the composition of the founders of EL 6 is hidden in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities. In « EL 6 » they did not comment on the investigation of the EEC.
EL 6 accounts for 100% of the production of graphite electrodes in the territory of the EAEU countries, the EEC materials say. But, it is noted there, the products of the Russian manufacturer were uncompetitive in the markets of the Union due to the supply of electrodes comparable in terms of technical characteristics from China at dumping prices. The dumping margin of Chinese suppliers, according to EL 6, reached 28.6%, which significantly exceeds the permissible EEC of the norm. The situation is aggravated by the fact that duties on Chinese -made electrodes are operating on the EU and Japan markets, Kommersant interlocutors note.
Industrial expert Leonid Khazanov says that in China, “overproduction of electrodes”. According to him, the country annually produces about 700 thousand tons of graphite electrodes with low loading of their own electric stale -melting capacities and reducing the production of steel. According to the World Association of Steel (WSA), in January, China reduced the steel smelting by 5.6% year by the year, to 81.9 million tons. Bloomberg reported that by the end of the year, Chinese metallurgists can reduce production by 50 million tons relative to the level of 2024 (1 billion tons, according to WSA). At the same time, the cost of Chinese electrodes is almost twice as lower than the cost of Russian, the expert indicates.
According to Leonid Khazanov, the capacities for the production of graphite electrodes in Russia are 80 thousand tons, but the level of their current load can be estimated at 65% due to stagnation in Russian metallurgy and Chinese supplies. Demand for electrodes for ferrous metallurgy correlates with smelting of steel, so in 2025 recovery is not expected, he says. And the export of electrodes from the Russian Federation to the EAEU markets is almost completely limited by Chinese supplies to these countries, experts say.
In Severstal, the consumption of metal in the Russian Federation was evaluated last year at 43.7 million tons, which is 5.7% less than a year earlier. The Russian Steel Association at the end of January predicted a reduction in demand for steel in the Russian Federation by at least 5% this year. According to WSA, in 2024 the production of steel in Russia decreased by 7%, to 70.7 million tons, in January 2025 – by 0.6%, to 6 million tons.
Since 2012, anti -doping duties have been in the EAEU with respect to the graphite electrodes of Indian manufacturers of Heg Limited and Graphite India Limited. The rate of bets is set in 16.04% and 32.83% of the customs value of the products of companies, respectively. Since then, duties were extended, in 2024 – to March 31, 2029. The extension also asked El 6.
The main strategist of the Criminal Code « Vector Capital » Maxim Khudalov says that almost half of the consumption of electrodes in the Russian Federation falls on Chinese products. According to him, the preferential terms of lending in the PRC allow producers of the country for a long time to work at a loss in the hope of bankruptcy of competitors. “We have already observed a similar story in the market of rare earth metals, where almost all capacities in the world were strangled by Chinese dumping,” the expert says. According to Mr. Khudalov, the EEC will most likely accept increasing duties against electrodes from the PRC at least at the EU level – 75%.
