Export and import as well as domestic and offshore trade of coal coke (in steel production and foundries) carbon black feedstock, pitch and coal tar; export of artificial graphite electrodes; export and domestic trade of activated carbon and carbon fibers.

In the Carbon Materials Unit, we handle a wide range of products in five different product areas.

Through our export and import activities as well as offshore and domestic trading, we handle more than one million tons of coal coke a year, most of which is used in steel production. In recent years, our activities represent approximately 10 percent of the world's sea-borne trade of coal coke.

We export artificial graphite electrodes for use in electric furnaces at steel plants for melting scrap and direct reduced iron. Our business represents approximately 40 percent of Japan's exports of artificial graphite electrodes.

We handle sales of coal tar for production of various distilled tar products, coal tar pitch for production of anodes for aluminium smelting and graphite electrodes for steelmaking, and carbon black feedstock for the production of tires and ink materials.

We widely sell pitch-based carbon fibers, both in Japan and around the world as an insulator for use in various industrial furnaces, primarily for manufacturers of silicon for solar electricity generation, and semiconductor wafers.

We sell pitch-based bead-shaped activated carbon, both in Japan and around the world, for use in water purification as well as in gas and liquid filters.