The Carbon Company - one of the world's leading manufactures of carbon-based products, has signed a contract in Hubei Province with a well-known Chinese silicon company for the supply of carbon electrodes with a total value close to RMB 200 million (approx. Euro 21,4 million).
According to the contract, SGL Group will supply 1,320 mm diameter carbon electrodes. This is the second time that SGL Group has been awarded a contract from this same customer - the first was when they placed an order for the same type of carbon electrodes in 2010.
Mr. Klaus Unterharnscheidt, Chairman of Business Unit Graphite and Carbon Electrodes, Mr. Eckhard Escher, Product Director of Carbon Electrodes and the senior management from the customer attended the signing ceremony.
The 1,320 mm diameter carbon electrodes provided by SGL Group will be used in the customer's 33000KVA furnaces to produce high-purity industrial silicon. The first ton of silicon metal is expected to be produced in 2011.
SGL Group has more than 100 years of experience in the manufacture of carbon electrodes, which have characteristics such as high levels of chemical purity, good electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical strength and easy mounting. More importantly, SGL Group has had 40 years' experience producing carbon electrodes of this size and has built up significant unique know-how on the processing of such electrodes. Such products have increasingly come to the attention of many Chinese enterprises. All the carbon electrodes supplied under this contract will be manufactured in SGL Group's plant in Nowy Sacz / Poland. In addition, SGL Group will also offer services including on-site training on electrode handling.
Mr. Klaus Unterharnscheidt, Chairman of Business Unit Graphite and Carbon Electrodes, SGL Group, commented: "We are very pleased to see that SGL Group was again selected as its partner. With outstanding and stable performance of our products, we are confident to continue offering best solutions to our customers. Asia and especially China has always been our most important market. All these years of successful cooperation with our customers in China enables us to have a better understanding of the development and demand of the China market. Therefore, SGL Group is always committed to improve the quality of our products, provide diversified and integrated solutions so that we can meet the ever-increasing demands of the customers".
This contract is the biggest ever concluded by SGL Group's Carbon Electrodes Business in China, and marks a successful milestone for the Business Unit Graphite and Carbon Electrodes. This will further strengthen SGL Group's market position in the Chinese electrodes market. Meanwhile, it will also provide assistance in the application of large-scale silicon metal furnaces in China, and become a key reference for other players in the silicon metal industry in years to come.
Carbon electrodes are a consumable item used in electric furnaces for the smelting of industrial silicon and ferroalloys, and require properties such as good electrical conductivity, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, high energy efficiency and high oxidation-resistance. It is one of the major factors that influence the smelting process, and a major consideration for final product quality, production capacity, energy consumption and manufacturing costs. In recent years, the Chinese government, through NDRC regulations, has been encouraging the application of large-scale electric furnaces in the silicon metal manufacturing industry, and requiring that smaller electric furnaces be decommissioned by 2012. As a result, the demand for large-sized carbon electrodes will rise steadily.