----Interview with Li Dong
Deputy General Manager
Heilongjiang HaGong Graphite Technology Co.,Ltd.
Heilongjiang Hagong Graphite Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in September 2017 and is located in Didao District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province. The company is a state-level high-tech enterprise with more than 350 employees. Up to now, the company has completed a total investment of more than one billion Yuan and has established 4 subsidiaries, namely Jixi Guorun Mining Co., Ltd, Jixi Harbin Industrial High Carbon Graphite Materials Co., Ltd, Jixi Hagong New Energy Materials Co., Ltd and Jixi Hagong Carbon-based Materials Technology Co., Ltd. The company has formed a complete industrial chain from natural graphite mining to expansible graphite, high purity spherical graphite, negative anode and other highly processing products.
Asian Metal: Greetings, Ms. Dong! Welcome to our interview. Could you please give us a brief introduction about your company?
Ms. Dong: Heilongjiang Hagong Graphite Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in September 2017, located in Didao District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province. We are a state-level high-tech enterprise, with more than 350 employees. Up to now, we have completed a total investment of more than 1 billion Yuan, established 4 subsidiaries: Jixi Guorun Mining Co., Ltd, Jixi Harbin Industrial High Carbon Graphite Materials Co., Ltd, Jixi Hagong New Energy Materials Co., Ltd and Jixi Hagong Carbon-based Materials Technology Co., Ltd. We have formed a complete industrial chain from natural graphite mining to expansible graphite, high purity spherical graphite, negative anode and other highly processing products. We presently have two graphite mines. One is the Ping’an graphite mine in Didao District of Jixi City, one of the best natural graphite mines in China with an ore reserves of 22.56 million tons, a mineral reserves of 3.2 million tons, and a 40% content of large flake graphite and an average grade of 14.22%. The other one is the Mishan City Liangshichang graphite mine, with an ore reserves of 95 million tons, a mineral reserves of 6.2 million tons and an average grade of about 7%. The above two mines have a total ore reserves of nearly 120 million tons, a mineral reserves of nearly 10 million tons and a total market value of more than 40 billion Yuan.
Asian Metal: Would you please introduce your company's products in detail?
Ms.Dong: Jixi Guorun Mining Co., Ltd is the source of the entire industrial chain, carrying 800,000tpy of graphite mining projects of Ping’an graphite mine; Jixi Harbin Industrial High Carbon Graphite Materials Co., Ltd has achieved an annual production capacity of 60,000t of graphite concentrate, and is planning to increase production capacity by 50,000tpy. In the future, the company's flake graphite concentrate production capacity will reach 110,000tpy; Jixi Hagong New Energy Materials Co., Ltd has a natural graphite spherical production capacity of 32,000tpy, a high purity graphite purification capacity of 50,000tpy; Jixi Hagong Carbon-based Materials Technology Co., Ltd has a expansible graphite production capacity of 18,000tpy and a graphite paper production capacity of 700tpy.
Asian Metal: How was the price trend of flake graphite in the first three quarters of 2024?
Ms.Dong: In the first three quarters, due to the continued weak demand, the prices of fine flake graphite continued moving down, so only several producers in the Jixi resumed production in Q2, leading to the short supply and increased prices of large flake graphite. Due to weak downstream demand and decreased prices of fine flake graphite, the prices of spherical graphite had a downward trend. Based on stable demand and increased prices of large flake graphite, the prices of expansible graphite had a upward trend.
Asian Metal: Please briefly analyze the supply and demand of graphite in the first three quarters of 2024?
Ms.Dong: On the demand side: the demand from refractory industry and lithium battery anode material industry kept weak in the first three quarters this year. Though in Q2 the demand slightly recovered slightly, but not strong enough to driven the prices of fine flake graphite to move up. While, the demand for large flake graphite remained stable during the same period. On the supply side: most producers halted production in last Q4 and only several of them resumed production in this Q2, leading to short supply of large flake graphite, but the supply of fine flake graphite kept sufficient as several big producers in Luobei kept stable operating rates. The refractory industry and lithium battery anode material industry demand for negative flake graphite has been in a downturn, although the second quarter slightly recovered, but not enough to support the price recovery; The demand for orthomesh flake graphite in the expandable graphite industry has been relatively stable. Supply, in the fourth quarter of last year, most of the flake graphite processing plants have stopped production, until May this year, Jixi area only several factories have started, but the supply of negative flake graphite is more adequate, because there are producers in the north of Luobei area with large production and winter did not stop production; However, the supply of orthomesh flake graphite has always been in short supply.
Asian Metal: What is your forecast for the graphite market in the coming 6 months?
Ms.Dong: Not very optimistic. Personally, I don’t believe that the market could see any obvious recovery till the end of 2025. However, as prices of fine flake graphite already decreased to production cost line and most producers would halt production successively in Q4 and would not resume production till next Q2, the prices of flake graphite would remain stable by the end of next Q1.
Asian Metal: What advantages do you have in the current competitive market environment?
Ms.Dong: The company is located in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, which is one of the most important deposit areas of high-quality flake graphite of which the proven reserves reaches 1 billion tons and the content of large flake graphite is over 40%. The graphite resources are shallow buried, easy to exploit, stable physical and chemical properties, and high industrial utilization value. These rich and high-quality graphite resources and our strong industrial base have laid a solid foundation for the development of the company. We have two graphite mines, which ensure the stability and reliability of the raw material supply and effectively resist the risks caused by market fluctuations. On the other hand, the Jixi City government has attached great importance to and supported the graphite industry, and introduced a series of special policies to provide a strong guarantee for the sustained and high-quality development of the graphite industry. The implementation of these policies has not only promoted the rapid development of the graphite industry, but also provided a good development environment for our company.
Asian Metal: Do you have any development plans in the coming 3 years? What is your vision for the future development of the company?
Ms.Dong: In 2025, we plan to invest another 500 million Yuan to expand natural graphite anode materials production capacity, improve the added value of products, and diversify our graphite products. In the next 3 years, the investment scale will reach nearly 2 billion Yuan. After all projects get put into production, the company can achieve an annual output value of more than 1 billion Yuan, an annual taxes of 80 million Yuan and an annual profit of 150 million Yuan. In addition, since 2019, we have begun to prepare for the listing, and have successively carried out important work such as shareholding reform and financial restructuring. We strive to achieve a successful capitalization operation and listing in 2027 to enhance the company's capital strength and corporate competitiveness.
Asian Metal: Thank you for your wonderful sharing!
