Petcoke update

In case you were wondering what’s happening with the new law on petcoke, we can report there is little in hard fact at the moment. Rumours abound, and as usual the rumours would have you believe completely different scenarios.

According to a rumour at the start of the week, consumers of high sulphur petcoke in Hebei province had been issued with a directive that petcoke over 3% Sulphur was banned from use. But another rumour said that the directive was that in order to use this coke, consumers had to produce certificates proving that they captured the sulphur. Neither rumour indicated from where this alleged document had been issued.

We checked with some consumers in Hebei province. One company representative told us that they had not received any directive, but another said that an unofficial directive had been received. This is how China sometimes works. A directive can be in the form of what we in the west might call a “nudge”. A quiet tap on the shoulder, a little like your boss might give you if he wanted to correct your behaviour without recording anything in the HR system.

Another rumour said that a directive would be issued during the Christmas break (when foreigners aren’t looking - it’s a normal work day in China), while another said it wouldn’t come down until March. Yet another rumour said it would be issued in January.

So, not much clarity as yet, though I did chuckle when I saw one of our US based competitors issued a note saying that the very last rumour - a January announcement - was their inside tip. The same note said there would be no impact on CPC or anodes, which is a particularly brave call.