Resumen de Roll up: : Borates - an oligopoly with little room for change
[...]as glass markets start to pick up and producers look to diversify their products to meet growing demand in new regions such as Asia Pacific, this market looks set for a second wind, Siobhan Lismore-Scott, IM Consultant Editor, finds. Borates are used in a myriad of end markets ( see Table 4) however, the largest market share of consumption is in the detergents, fertiliser and glass markets. Searles Valley is owned by India glass and soda ash producer Nirma, which manages the 20-50m tonne Searles Lake deposit in the US and which produces approximately 200,000 tpa tincal/ulexite. The company has ten plants producing boric acid, colemanite, borax (decahydrate, pentahydrate and anhydrous), pyrite, sodium perborate, boric oxide and some detergent end-products. [...]even Eti Maden has faced headwinds this year as it was confronted with fierce competition in the market in the Asia-Pacific region, especially in the Chinese market, Eti Maden management told IM, adding that it had learnt from this and has now reorganised its distribution network and sales structure within the region. SQM produces boric acid as a by-product of the production of potassium sulphate, by extracting the brines from the Salar de Atacama and processing the material at its 15,000 tpa boric acid plant located there.
