Carbon

Activated Carbon Market Dynamics Report (Recent Commodity Market Intelligence)

I. Market Price Dynamics

1. Benchmark Price:
- As of July 28, 2026, the ChemNet China (Shengyishe) benchmark price for activated carbon stands at RMB 12,233.33 per ton, remaining essentially unchanged from recent days, indicating overall market stability.

2. Prices by Product Category:
- Coconut shell-based activated carbon (iodine number: 300) is quoted at approximately RMB 4,800 per ton.
- Coal-based cylindrical activated carbon is priced around RMB 12,500 per ton.
- Wood-based activated carbon prices vary according to iodine number and methylene blue adsorption value (MB value): e.g., wood-based powdered activated carbon (MB value: 10) is quoted at RMB 4,500 per ton; wood-based granular activated carbon (iodine number: 900) is quoted at RMB 7,500 per ton.

3. Price Volatility:
- Recent price fluctuations have been minimal; since July, the benchmark price has declined only marginally, reflecting relatively stable supply-demand dynamics.

II. Supply-Demand Situation

1. Supply Conditions:
- The domestic activated carbon industry maintains steady operations, with output growing steadily and adequately meeting market demand.
- Traditional, generic activated carbon production capacity is undergoing gradual optimization and phase-out, while capacity for high-end functional carbon materials continues to expand.

2. Demand Conditions:
- Market demand remains robust, with sustained growth in applications such as water treatment, industrial flue gas purification, and VOCs (volatile organic compounds) exhaust gas treatment.
- Demand for high-end functional activated carbon is rising notably in sectors including food refining, premium water purification, and chemical purification.

3. Import-Export Status:
- Export performance is strong: from January to April 2026, China’s exports of wood-based activated carbon reached 25,000 metric tons, representing a 18.43% year-on-year increase; export value amounted to USD 0.43 billion, up 19.48% year-on-year.
- Import dependency is progressively declining, with enhanced domestic substitution effect.

III. Industry Development Trends

1. Product Upgrading:
- Activated carbon products are evolving toward higher purity and greater functionality, meeting stringent requirements—such as ultra-high purity and precise pore size distribution—of advanced application fields.
- Surface chemical modification tailored to specific adsorbates enables targeted adsorption capabilities, accelerating functionalization.

2. Expansion of Application Areas:
- Applications are strategically extending into new energy and energy storage materials, e.g., electrode materials for supercapacitors and hard carbon anodes for sodium-ion batteries.
- Usage scenarios continue to broaden across emerging industries, including precision filtration and pharmaceutical purification.

3. Green and Low-Carbon Transformation:
- Regeneration and reuse of spent activated carbon has become mainstream, with increasingly mature resource recovery technologies effectively reducing raw material consumption and solid waste pollution.
- Low-carbon production processes utilizing agricultural and forestry residues to manufacture biomass-based activated carbon are being widely promoted, significantly lowering energy consumption during manufacturing.

IV. Analysis, Outlook & Forecast

1. Price Trend:
- In the short term, activated carbon prices are expected to remain stable, given the balanced supply-demand relationship and limited volatility.
- Over the longer term, rising demand for high-end functional activated carbon—and associated capacity expansion—may drive upward pricing pressure on select premium-grade products.

2. Market Demand:
- Continued tightening of environmental regulations and supporting demand from the new-energy sector will sustain robust market demand for activated carbon.
- Application demand for high-end functional activated carbon across multiple sectors will further intensify, serving as a key driver of future market growth.

3. Industry Structure:
- The activated carbon industry will accelerate the elimination of outdated production capacity, focusing instead on process optimization and quality enhancement—propelling industry development toward refinement, low-carbon practices, and high-end positioning.
- Leading enterprises will consolidate their market positions leveraging technological advantages and economies of scale, thereby increasing industry concentration.