Market Dynamics Intelligence Analysis of Coal-Based Activated Carbon – Recent Commodity Market Update

I. Market Price Dynamics
- Base Price: As of May 27, 2026, the Business Network’s (Shengyishe) benchmark price for activated carbon stands at RMB 12,933.33 per ton, unchanged from the beginning of the month, indicating recent price stability.
- Regional Price Variations: Significant price disparities exist across regions and enterprises. For example, certain enterprises in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, quote prices ranging from RMB 2,300 to 2,500 per ton (iodine number: 300–950 mg/g; methylene blue adsorption value: 3–12 mL/0.1 g); Shanxi Xinhua Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. offers premium products (iodine number ≥1,150 mg/g) priced at RMB 13,850 per ton.

II. Cost-Structure Analysis
- Coal Price Volatility: Fluctuations in coal prices directly impact production costs for coal-based activated carbon. In 2025, the average price of high-quality lump coal in Jincheng, Shanxi Province, rose by 4.7% year-on-year; however, in 2026, price volatility in major producing regions has narrowed to ±4.3%, easing cost pressures.
- Raw Material Supply Stability: Shanxi and Ningxia—primary production bases for coal-based activated carbon—leverage local anthracite resources and employ physical activation methods to produce powdered activated carbon, ensuring relatively stable raw material supply.

III. Supply-Demand Analysis
- Supply-Demand Balance: The market remains broadly balanced recently, with no pronounced shortage or oversupply, contributing to price stability.
- Growth Areas in Demand:
- Water Treatment: Accounts for the largest share (~40%), primarily driven by municipal drinking water quality upgrades and industrial wastewater advanced treatment (e.g., newly installed powdered activated carbon adsorption units in electroplating and dye intermediate industries).
- Air Purification: Represents 28.3% of demand, strongly supported by the completion rate of 92.7% for the 'Three-Year Special Campaign on Ultra-Low Emissions Retrofit for Thermal Power Plants'.
- Emerging Applications: Food & pharmaceutical-grade applications account for 19.5% of demand; notably, pharmaceutical-grade demand is accelerating due to an increase in GMP-certified manufacturers to 37, achieving an average annual growth rate of 12.4%.

IV. Policy-Driven Analysis
- Stricter Environmental Regulations: Tighter environmental policies—including standardized replacement cycles for activated carbon in VOCs control equipment—have boosted demand. However, enterprises are partially offsetting cost pressures through technological upgrades, such as increasing the proportion of regenerated carbon-based powders to 15.7%.
- Compliance Requirements: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) imposes stricter carbon footprint requirements on export-oriented enterprises, necessitating greater investment in green production technologies.

V. Competitive Landscape Analysis
- Rising Industry Concentration: The industry’s CR5 (combined market share of the top five firms) reached 63.7% in 2025, reflecting growing dominance by leading enterprises leveraging technological barriers and economies of scale.
- Advantages of Leading Enterprises: For instance, Henan ShenHua Activated Carbon Co., Ltd. enjoys widespread reputation across core industrial sectors—including power generation, chemical processing, and water treatment—owing to its high adsorption capacity, superior mechanical strength, and consistent chemical stability.
- Strategies of SMEs: Small and medium-sized enterprises focus on regional resource advantages and operational flexibility, targeting specific geographic markets or niche segments via differentiated competition to sustain viability.

VI. Technological Innovation and Service Trends
- Product Innovation: Development of customized products—including low-ash food-grade activated carbon and high-specific-surface-area supercapacitor-grade activated carbon.
- Service Expansion: Provision of end-to-end lifecycle services—covering activated carbon selection, loading design, saturation monitoring, and regeneration/recovery. For example, 63% of suppliers participating in Beijing OriginWater Technology’s EPC projects are required to offer such integrated services.
- Intelligent Manufacturing: Adoption of IoT, sensor networks, and artificial intelligence enables precise, real-time control throughout the production process, enhancing product consistency.

VII. Forward Outlook
- Short-Term Forecast: Stable supply-demand balance and controlled input costs support price maintenance within the range of RMB 12,900–13,000 per ton.
- Long-Term Forecast: Underpinned by tightening environmental regulations, expanding demand from emerging application sectors, and technological upgrades—including intelligent manufacturing reducing inter-batch quality variation coefficient to ≤1.2%—prices may trend mildly upward. However, upside potential remains constrained by raw material price fluctuations and competitive dynamics.
- Market Expansion: Export growth is being propelled by wastewater and exhaust gas treatment demands in Southeast Asian electronics manufacturing and potable water purification projects in the Middle East; export volume growth in 2026 is projected to sustain at 10.5%.