On the evening of April 25, 2025, the Shanghai Stock Exchange was informed that Fangda Carbon’s 2024 annual report showed that, despite a weak global economic recovery and multiple challenges facing the carbon industry in 2024, the company achieved operating revenue of 3.87 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 186 million yuan. With its solid business performance, the company once again demonstrated its strength and resilience as an industry leader. Particularly noteworthy is that, even amid overall industry headwinds, the company managed to increase its market share against the trend, driving the transformation and upgrading of its production and manufacturing toward intelligent operations, thereby further consolidating its position as a global leader in the carbon industry.

In 2024, the carbon industry faced unprecedented challenges. The intensification of international geopolitical conflicts, sharp fluctuations in raw material prices, and persistently weak demand from the downstream steel industry—these three pressures combined plunged the entire industry into its “darkest moment.”

According to industry association statistics, in 2024, the total industrial output value of China's carbon industry declined by 16.66% year-on-year, and the production capacity of both ordinary-power and high-power graphite electrodes showed negative growth. Amid this challenging industry climate, Fangda Carbon, leveraging its 60 years of deep-rooted expertise, has delivered a hard-won performance record, demonstrating its leading role as an industry leader.

“We’ve not only survived—we’re thriving with a high quality of life,” said Ma Zhuo, Vice President of Liaoning Fangda Group and Chairman of Fangda Carbon. By implementing refined management practices, the company has launched a comprehensive strategy covering product structure, resource allocation, and quality control. In particular, in the high-end products segment, the company’s market share of 750mm ultra-high-power graphite electrodes has significantly increased, and it now holds a leading position in the domestic market for carbon/graphite materials used in nuclear power applications.

Faced with industry challenges, Fangda Carbon has identified technological innovation as the key to breaking the deadlock. In 2024, the company’s R&D investment reached tens of millions of yuan—a level far exceeding the industry average—and this substantial investment is injecting strong momentum into the company’s high-quality development.

The company adheres to a dual approach of independent innovation and collaborative innovation. On the one hand, leveraging its national-level enterprise technology center, it has achieved significant breakthroughs in tackling key core technologies: its boron-containing graphite products for fast reactors were awarded the Second Prize for Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievements in Gansu Province, and the project “Research on Homogenization Technology for Ultra-Microporous Product Structures and Its Application” received the First Prize for Outstanding Technological Innovation Achievements among provincial employees. On the other hand, the company has deepened industry-academia-research cooperation with renowned institutions such as Lanzhou University and Central South University, achieving a series of breakthroughs in the field of graphene applications. Three innovative products have been honored with the “Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Innovation Award” at the China International High-Tech Fair.

These innovative achievements have been rapidly translated into market competitiveness, becoming a key driver of performance growth. Thanks to its outstanding performance in the innovation field, the company has successfully been included in the “2024 Hurun China Top 100 New Materials Enterprises List” and has been honored with the “Most Promising Growth Listed Company Award for New Materials,” the “2024 National Pioneer Enterprise Award for Graphite Electrodes,” and the “2024 Global Excellence Brand Award for Graphite Electrodes.”

Under the guidance of the “Dual Carbon” goals, Fangda Carbon has positioned green development as its strategic direction. In 2024, the company continued to focus on tiered management and control of environmental protection equipment, optimizing and refining the standards for such management. It also steadily pushed ahead with ultra-low emission upgrades, ensured the efficient operation of environmental protection equipment, and fully leveraged the effectiveness of these facilities in improving on-site environmental conditions and reducing pollution and emissions. As a result, the company’s ultra-low emission upgrades have yielded tangible results, and its environmental performance indicators have continued to improve. These initiatives not only enabled the company to join the ranks of national-level green factories but also earned it prestigious honors such as “Zero-Waste Enterprise” and “Outstanding Healthy Enterprise” from Lanzhou City.

“Environmental protection is not just a cost—it’s a core competitive advantage for businesses,” emphasized Ma Zhuo, Vice President of Fangda Group and Chairman of Fangda Carbon. By building a green manufacturing system, the company’s products have earned carbon footprint certifications from numerous international customers, providing strong support for expanding into high-end overseas markets.

While pursuing its own development, Fangda Carbon actively fulfills its social responsibilities and makes significant contributions to the local economic development. In 2024, the company was successively awarded honors such as “Gansu Province’s Enterprise with Outstanding Contribution to Industrial Economy” and “Enterprise with Remarkable Contribution to Stable Growth of the Provincial Industrial Economy.”

Standing at a new starting point, Fangda Carbon has already drawn up a clear development blueprint. At the beginning of 2025, the company will enter into strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Huawei, CATL, and Jingtai Technology, deeply investing in areas including smart factory construction and digital transformation. In particular, in the application of artificial intelligence technologies, the company is promoting the deep integration of traditional manufacturing with AI technologies. Through the new “AI + Industry” model, it is driving the upgrade of production and manufacturing toward greater intelligence, networking, and digitalization.

“Challenges remain, but opportunities are even greater,” said Chairman Ma Zhuo. The company will remain committed to the development direction of “high-end, intelligent, and green,” stepping up R&D efforts on high-end products such as graphite electrodes and nuclear-grade graphite, deepening technological upgrades, implementing intelligent transformations, and driving capacity expansion. We will continue to cultivate and refine our expertise in the field of new carbon materials, fostering and developing new forms of productive forces, further expanding into emerging markets, and consolidating our leading position in the carbon industry. This will enable us to move forward toward higher quality and higher standards, contributing significantly to Gansu’s chapter in Chinese-style modernization and laying a solid foundation for building a world-class carbon powerhouse.

Fangda Carbon’s 2024 annual report not only chronicles a company’s arduous journey through adversity but also vividly showcases the dynamic practice of China’s manufacturing sector in its transformation and upgrading.

In a market environment full of uncertainty, Fangda Carbon has demonstrated through its achievements that only by adhering to innovation-driven development, prioritizing quality, and putting service first can one remain invincible in the fierce competition.