A news release from GLOBAL TIMES ONLINE:

The China (Jining) Advanced Carbon Materials Industry Development Summit Forum 
was held in Jining's Jiaxiang county in East China's Shandong province on Aug 7.

More than 100 representatives from the domestic carbon materials industrial 
chain, including top-notch experts Liu Zhongfan and Xu Chunming, attended the 
forum to discuss in-depth cooperation initiatives between governments, 
industries, universities and research institutes and how to boost high-quality 
development within the industry.

Jiaxiang county is currently home to more than 20 production and sales 
enterprises and covers carbon-based materials, high-end carbon application 
materials, new-energy graphite products, asphalt new materials and lithium cell 
materials. In 2021, the sector's output value exceeded 4 billion yuan ($592.4 
million).

The county has established partnerships with more than 20 universities and 
research institutes including Tsinghua University and China University of 
Petroleum to form a close-loop industrial chain consisting of research and 
development, production, and application.

Shandong Yida New Material Co based in Jiaxiang is one of the major domestic 
suppliers of petroleum-based needle coke. In 2021, the company produced 200,000 
tons of petroleum-based needle coke, ranking first in China, and exported 
13,000 tons of petroleum-based needle coke, which accounted for over 50 percent 
of the country's total exports of the product.

SOURCE: GLOBAL TIMES ONLINE