News
Growing Concerns about Nitrogen Pollution May Hamper Ammonia Market Growth
January 10, 2019
In early 2019, the ammonia market has been demonstrating a vivid bearish sentiment for several months now, though such kind of mood has been evident for a much longer period. The product oversupply, low margins, price volatility, flat consumption in …
Positive Selenium Image May Improve its Marketability
December 20, 2018
Selenium is a relatively rare non-metal element which finds uses in multiple high-tech industrial products and applications, including photovoltaic cells, AC-to-DC electrical converters, specialized low-conductance sheet glass, human dietary supplements, cosmetics, steel alloys, catalysts, medicinal compounds, etc. Major selenium reserves …
Post-Colonial Concerns Affect Regional Germanium Markets
December 13, 2018
Germanium is closely associated with applications in various high-tech sectors and products, including the production of fibre and infrared optics, terrestrial solar cells, light-emitting diodes, polymerization catalysts, germanium-antimony-tellurium material in rewritable optical discs, propagermanium-based medicines, to name only a few. …
Solvay’s Recent Soda Ash Operations
December 6, 2018
Soda ash has the following main outlets: glass (both container and flat), detergents, soaps, chemicals, as well as metallurgy, pharmaceuticals, environment protection (e.g. acidity combating) and other applications. The natural route of soda ash production involves trona ore purification. Trona …
Environmental Issues Have Substantial Impact on Caprolactam Market
November 28, 2018
Caprolactam is involved in complex production chains composed of multiple feedstocks, derivatives (intermediates) and end-products. In a simplified form of the traditional Beckmann process used in caprolactam manufacturing, key intermediate cyclohexanone is converted to cyclohexanone oxime, which later is rearranged …
Bioethanol Market: Key Challenges & Prospects
November 20, 2018
The production of transport fuel has long been the major outlet for ethanol. This fuel is derived from various cellulosic biomass feedstocks via the method of the fermentation of available carbohydrates, like simple sugars, or via second-generation ethanol technology. The …
Bans and Restrictions Restrain Asbestos Market Growth
November 12, 2018
Asbestos has a long history of application. There is also already a rather continuous history of asbestos phasing-out or elimination. Despite a couple of million tonnes still in annual production by a limited number of countries, the asbestos market curtailment …
Global Acetic Acid Market Is Characterised by Cyclical Nature
November 1, 2018
Acetic acid is an important large-volume chemical, which acts as a building block in complex manufacturing and commodity chains. These chains involve petroleum-based raw materials, multiple intermediate chemicals and a wide range of end-products, like solvents, adhesives, soft drink bottles, …
Depleting Resources Could Emerge as Key Challenge of Global Bentonite Market
October 25, 2018
Bentonite is a highly versatile industrial clay with diverse application areas including foundry sand binders, pet litter, iron ore pelletizing, mud drilling, agriculture, industrial absorbents, amid others. It is also quite often used an ingredient involved in innovations and high-tech …
Purified Terephthalic Acid Market is Characterised by High Volatility
October 18, 2018
Purified terephthalic acid (PTA) is a large-tonnage commodity and intermediate, which acts as an element of the complex value chain, consisting of upstream paraxylene and downstream products, including polyester fibre and non-fibre applications such as PET-bottles, PET-films, and engineering plastics. …
Environmental Legislation can be Detrimental for Cadmium Market Development
October 11, 2018
The situation with cadmium pollution is a subject of major concern of various European and international organizations monitoring the turnover of chemicals. Cadmium is known to have a detrimental carcinogenic effect upon human and animal health. The production of mineral …
China to Continue Leading Global Tungsten Market
October 4, 2018
It is a general rule of thumb that the world tungsten market follows the trajectory of the global macroeconomic situation. This has become especially evident during the world economic downturn of 2009 when the world tungsten production fell to a …
Regional Phthalic Anhydride Markets Demonstrate Positive Dynamics
September 27, 2018
Many regional markets for phthalic anhydride (PA) are currently demonstrating positive dynamics, though the environment in which these markets operate can be characterised by disruptive economic turbulence, shifting political climate, and confrontational regulatory regime. It is only sufficient to mention …
New US Tariffs Against Chinese Goods May Affect Titanium Dioxide Trade
September 20, 2018
The recent introduction of a new 10% duty on many Chinese goods worth $200bn, including titanium ores and concentrates, as well as pigments and preparations based on titanium dioxide, may impact global trade with titanium dioxide. It could also affect …
US-China Trade Tensions May Affect Global Adipic Acid Market
September 6, 2018
The global and regional markets for adipic acid are highly volatile, which is manifested in rapid changes in adipic acid price and trade dynamics. This volatility is predetermined by the dynamic complexity, built around multiple interdependent factors which influence the …
Some Barriers May Impede Potassium Sulphate Market Development
August 29, 2018
Well-balanced potassium nutrition is indispensable for crop yield, plant health, and its quality, thus providing a huge economic, social and environmental impact, especially in developing countries, which are among the major consumers of different types of potassium fertilizers. Numerous researches …
Intrinsic Character of Tellurium Market Threats
August 22, 2018
Tellurium is a versatile rare earth element and metalloid. Despite its functional versatility, tellurium applications are of mostly high-tech and value-added character. These applications include the following industries: photovoltaics to manufacture thin-film cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells (40%); electronics to …
Monopolization May Pose Threat to Global Gypsum Industry
July 27, 2018
Vulnerability of the global gypsum market is evident. While being a versatile product used in many applications, its major outlet is the construction sector. In 2016, gypsum was mainly used to make cement (appr. 61% of all gypsum produced globally) …
Vanadium as Good Alternative to Lithium in Energy Storage Applications
July 23, 2018
The deficit of lithium in lithium-ion batteries may necessitate the development of new types of batteries in which lithium might be substituted. The possible alternative may come in the form of the so-called vanadium redox batteries (VRB) or vanadium flow …
Lithium Shortage Can Make Transition to Electric Vehicles Unsustainable
July 5, 2018
Lithium-based compounds have become a primary ingredient of the lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and electric vehicles (EV). The amount of lithium consumed by these types of vehicles varies, but it is …
Fluorspar Is Critical Raw Material in European Manufacturing Value Chains
June 13, 2018
Fluorspar is applied in the production of hydrofluoric acid (which is a feedstock for fluorine-containing compounds, incl. fluoropolymers), steelmaking, aluminium manufacturing, and other consumption sectors. It is included in the regularly updated list of critical raw materials (CRMs). The list …
Environmental and Social Factors Affect Global Sodium Cyanide Market
June 5, 2018
Sodium cyanide plays an important role in the mining solutions business due to its capacity to meet the growing demand from the gold and silver mining sectors. This is especially true for North and South America, Australia, South Africa and …
Developing Countries Drive Polyisobutylene Market
May 29, 2018
Polyisobutylene (PIB) is an important elastomer that is used to produce tires (more than 70% of global PIB consumption), fuel and lubricant additives (10%), automotive mechanical goods (8%), adhesives and sealants (3%), and other products (6%). These consumption sectors enjoy …
Vertical Integration as a Way to Address Phenol Market Challenges
May 21, 2018
Phenol, produced mainly via the cumene peroxidation process, plays an important role in the chemical and other industries. It is an indispensable building block used in the production of plastics (further processed into automotive parts, mobile phones, etc.), paints, coatings, …
Regional Melamine Markets Exhibit Different Dynamics
April 27, 2018
The wood-based panel industry with its subsectors focused on laminates and adhesive resins is considered the largest outlet for melamine. Both subsectors (i.e. laminates and adhesives) jointly account for over 70% of melamine consumption globally. Melamine: structure of the global …