TOKYO — Japan’s Resonac Holdings will quit Chinese and Southeast Asian production of graphite electrodes for steelmakers, the company said Thursday, scaling back in a bid to improve margins that have been squeezed by an influx of low-priced Chinese parts.
Graphite electrodes are used mainly in electric arc furnaces, which melt scrap iron using heat from an electrical current. Resonac is a major producer, with annual capacity totaling 210,000 tonnes across six manufacturing sites worldwide. The company will liquidate its subsidiaries in China and Malaysia, leaving it with four sites in Japan, the U.S., Austria and Spain.
