What do we have to expect for Carbon Black availability and prices in 2018?

If we see actual trends in China, with bigger focus on environment, we have to ask ourselves, if this may impact the availability and price of Carbon Black in Europe.

Due to the shutdown of several factories in China, especially coke chemical plants, there is a big shift in the demand and supply of coke chemical Carbon Black feedstock, like anthracene oil.

When coal is processed into coke, for steel production, there is also production of coal tar.
Coal tar itself can be processed into pitch, which is an obligatory raw material for aluminium production, and different oil fractions like for example anthracene oil.

Anthracene oil is used as Carbon Black feedstock, due to reason of good BMCI.

The BMCI (Bureau of Mines Correlation Index) is a number correlated with the aromaticity of the feedstock.

So due to the good and necessary moves in China, there is a lack of Carbon Black feedstock, which may influence availability and pricing in the next year.