Industrial Minerals / The Economics of Precipitated Calcium Carbonate, 7th edition 2008

World demand for precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is forecast to grow by an average of 4%py from around 13Mt in 2007 to nearly 16Mt by 2012. Growth rates will be highest in the paint (6%py) and rubber (4%py) industries though the largest increases in terms of tonnage will be in paper and paint. Much of the increase in demand will take place in Asia, especially in China, with much lower rates of growth forecast for North America and Europe. The largest regional market for PCC is in Asia, followed by North America and Europe. Asia's domination of the world PCC market is due both to recent growth in the regional paper and plastics industries, and to the smaller market share for fillers held by GCC in China. GCC production did not start in China until the 1990s and prior to that all demand for calcium carbonate fillers was met by PCC.

Report highlights

• The paper industry is the largest consumer of PCC. Using an estimated 5.5Mt in 2007, this market accounted for over 40% of world PCC consumption. The traditional use for PCC in paper has been as a filler, but demand for coating grades including blends of PCC and GCC, is increasing. Plastics are the second largest market for PCC. Consumption worldwide in this market totalled 3.5Mt in 2007. Asia dominates consumption, accounting for some 85% of the 2007 world total
• World demand for PCC in paper is forecast to grow at an average of nearly 3%py through 2012. Growth will be concentrated in Asia (5%py) where a number of paper mills have opened in the last decade to meet regional paper demand. Although most new paper mills in China use GCC, three large satellite PCC plants, each with capacity of over 100,000tpy, have also opened. Much lower growth of below 2%py is forecast for PCC use in North America and Europe, where competition between producers and more recently, lower demand during the economic slowdown have led to paper mill closures. Forecast growth in Chinese PCC consumption reflects rising domestic demand for paper, for paints and plastics in the construction industry, and for rubber. Chinese PCC consumption is forecast to rise by 6%py to reach 8Mt in 2012, around half the estimated world total.
• The global PCC industry is characterised by a few large multinational corporations that operate satellite and merchant capacity, and hundreds of small companies that often have only a single merchant plant. The three main international producers are MTI of the USA, Omya of Switzerland and Imerys of France. Together these three companies account for some 40% of world capacity and for over 90% of capacity operating on a satellite basis. Three Chinese producers Guangxi Guilin Jinshan Chemica, Dujiangyan Calcium Carbonate and Guangdong Enping Jiawei Chemical are now ranked in the world's top ten, although all Chinese companies just operate domestic plants.