Domestic, import and offshore trade of raw petroleum coke, and related domestic and international logistics; manufacture, and domestic, export and offshore trade of calcined coke for use in aluminium refining, and specialty carbon products; domestic and export trade of needle coke; offshore and export trade of anode and cathode blocks for aluminum refining.

In the Petroleum Coke Unit, we are primarily engaged in the purchase and sale of petroleum coke, a by-product of the crude oil refining process, and the production, purchase, and sale of calcined petroleum coke and needle coke, which are made from raw petroleum coke.

We import raw petroleum coke from the U.S., which is the world's largest producer, as well as from other countries such as Indonesia and China. Each year, we market about one million tons of raw petroleum coke, about a quarter of total imports to Japan, for use in cement and as fuel for boilers as well as stock for coke. We also are working to create new demand for raw petroleum coke by promoting the introduction of technology for using petroleum coke as fuel for electric production—a technology now being used by Frontier Energy Niigata Co. Ltd. In addition, we are also involved in offshore trading of LS raw petroleum coke, which is primarily used as a raw material in the production of electrodes for aluminum refining.

We also produce calcined coke, a material used in specialty carbon products and electrodes for aluminum refining, at a plant in Ohmuta City of Fukuoka Prefecture with an annual production capacity of 50,000 tons. We are also engaged in offshore trading of calcined coke apart from the domestic and export marketing of the calcined coke produced at the Ohmuta Plant.

Our wholly-owned subsidiary terminal, Sekiyu Cokes Kogyo Ltd., is our logistic terminal from where we market needle coke, a raw material used in artificial graphite electrodes, domestically and internationally. The subsidiary also manages our stock and performs gradation control. We have been earning trust and reputation in this operation from electrodes manufacturers worldwide.