Roskill - Expanding The World's Knowledge of Metals and Minerals Markets
Table of Contents
- 1. Summary
- 2. Introduction
- 3. Occurrences and reserves of fluorspar
- 4. Mining and processing of fluorspar
- 5. World production of fluorspar
- 6. Review of fluorspar production and processing by company and country
- 7. World Consumption of fluorspar
- 8. Applications for fluorspar in the chemical industry
- 9. Fluorspar applications in primary aluminium production
- 10. Fluorspar applications in iron and steel production
- 11. Other applications for fluorspar
- 12. International trade
- 13. Prices
This is an abridged table of contents. Click here for the full table of contents.
Fluorspar
Fluorspar market recovering from the phasing-out of CFCs
The early years of this decade have seen a gradual growth in world demand for fluorspar as well as significant price rises for acid-grade material. The market is recovering from the impact of the phasing-out of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and is responding to their replacement by more ozone-friendly and also more fluorspar dependant products. Production of fluorspar fell to a low of 3.6Mt in 1994 in response to the restrictions imposed by the Montreal protocol on the use of fluorocarbons, particularly CFCs in refrigerant gases, aerosol propellants and foam blowing agents. Production has not yet recovered to the peak of 5.48Mt in 1989 but since 1995 there has been some stabilisation and output has remained between 4.2 - 4.5Mt since 1997. With the rapid reduction in world output in the early 1990s there was considerable rationalisation of production and many mines closed. However, the recent fall in exports of fluorspar concentrates from China and the envisaged modest growth in the market has resulted in some increases in production in Mexico, Mongolia and Iran. There are several proposals for new mine operations, including developments of deposits in Vietnam and Western Australia, and the re-opening of Burin mine in Canada. Overall requirement for fluorspar is expected to rise to 5Mt by 2030 and acid-grade will account for around 3.5Mt of this total. This represents an average annual growth rate of just under 0.5% for fluorspar as a whole and 0.9%pa for acid grade.
The key trends, issues and developments in the market are now analysed in this major new report from Roskill. It provides a clear insight into all areas of the industry and an authoritative analysis of the prospects for the future.
- Independent, in-depth research and analysis
- Essential market intelligence for successful business planning
- Detailed survey of production in 55 countries
- Up-to-date profiles of over 50 past and current producing companies and their activities, including Cia Minera Las Cuevas, Kenya Fluorspar Co., Jinhua Dongfang Fluorspar Co and Sogerem
- Forecasts for end-use consumption and world supply and demand
Report highlights
The chemical industry is the largest user of fluorspar. Some 1.8Mt were consumed in this sector in 2003 with 50% going in to the manufacture of fluorocarbons, mainly for refrigerants and foam blowing; and the remainder into other chemical applications such as PTFE and other fluoropolymers, petroleum alkylation, glass and a range of medical, agricultural, metallurgical and other applications. Demand for fluorspar in the manufacture of fluoropolymers and fluoroelastomers is strong and is likely to grow at over 5%pa to 2006.
Another major application for fluorspar is in aluminium manufacture, which will continue to grow in response to increased output of aluminium, although growth will be limited in response to a decline in unit use, driven by improved smelting technology, increased recycling of fluorine and some substitution by AlF3 derived from fluosilic acid. Nevertheless a 20% increase in use is envisaged by 2030.
The USA, Japan and Canada have traditionally been the three major consuming countries though none of these actually has a domestic source of fluorspar. The USA and Canada closed their last mines in 1993 and Japan has no resources. For this reason over 50% of fluorspar is traded internationally. China, the world's largest producer of fluorspar, with 51% of world output, is now also becoming one of the major consumers.
Acid-grade fluorspar prices were low throughout the 1990s as a result of the rapid decrease in world demand coupled with a surge in exports of low-price concentrates from China. Following the closure of a number of mines and the introduction of anti-dumping measures against Chinese acid-grade fluorspar exports, the supply/demand balance began to normalise. This prompted the Chinese government to introduce a system of export quotas and tariffs, which further helped to stabilise the market in the late 1990s, and prices recovered. By 2004 the average value of imports from China were at the highest level since 1990. At the beginning of 2005 the quoted price for fluorspar cif US ports had reached US$225-235/t.
Buy This Report Now
The Economics of Fluorspar published 01/05/2005
187 pages, 130 tables and 21 figures.
ISBN 0 86214 891 X
Complete report price:
GBP 2100
EUR 3675
USD 4200
plus postage/packing.