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Borates
*Short
tons per year of boron minerals and refined primary borate chemicals, boron
oxide (B2O3) basis. Principal chemicals are borax
pentahydrate, anhydrous borax, borax decahydrate and boric acid. American
Borate and Fort Cady Minerals only produce mineral product. American Borate
also markets Turkish borates in the U.S. U.S.
Borax is a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, PLC (London, U.K.). The company is
increasing capacity at Boron, Calif. by 22,000 tons by the end of this year,
and another 77,000 to 88,000 tons by 2005. In 1998 IMC Global acquired the Trona and Westend, California mining properties from North American Chemical, and formed IMC Chemicals. IMC Global is now seeking a buyer for this subsidiary. Profile
last published 10/7/00.; this revision, 8/25/03. DEMAND 2001:
605 thousand short tons; 2002: 568 thousand short tons; 2006: 690 thousand
short tons, projected. Demand equals production plus imports (2001: 64
thousand short tons; 2002: 45 thousand short tons) less exports (2001: 273
thousand short tons; 2002: 221 thousand short tons). GROWTH Historical
(1997 - 2002): -1.1 (negative) percent per year; future: 0.5 percent per
year through 2006. PRICE Historical
(1997 - 2002) High, $905 per ton, borax, technical, anhydrous, 99 percent
bulk, list, f.o.b. works; low, $819, same basis. Current: $900 to 950, same
basis. USES Glass fiber insulation, 32 percent; textile glass fiber, 16 percent; soaps, detergents and bleaches, 10 percent; non-fibrous borosilicate glass and ceramics, 10 percent; agriculture, 7 percent; flame retardants, 6 percent; enamels and glazes, 2 percent; miscellaneous, 17 percent. STRENGTH Demand for refined borates, especially boric acid and sodium borates, is doing moderately well at present. Market conditions are positive, with prices for borates steady, though producers say they have not quite kept up with rising production costs. New housing construction is up more than 6 percent over the same time last year, being driven by low interest rates. This contributes to a steady demand for boron minerals and chemicals in glass fiber insulation and textile glass fibers. Novel applications are being developed for borate chemicals in glass, ceramics and energy. These, however, are still small in size but could produce significant demand sometime in the future. WEAKNESS Manufacturers
of textile glass fibers have developed more efficient methods to use boron
as well a boron-free glass fibers, resulting in overall lower boron
consumption per unit of fiber produced. Export
volumes have declined to half of their size only two to four years ago, as
other producing countries have added capacity to compete in world trade. OUTLOOK The
modest future growth of borates, 0.5 percent, is anticipated to be provided
by a continuing healthy housing construction industry. Here the growth comes
principally from glass fiber insulation. The other major application
segments are not growing, but they are stable. Though there are several new
niche application areas of growth, these are too small to significantly
influence overall market growth in the short term.
HISTORICAL DATA
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