Resumen de SUPPLY SITUATION REPORT: In the driving seat: talc demand looks to automobile market
In 2012, there were four companies mining talc via open pit operations in the US. Between them they operated six mines in four states in the US. The three leading talc producers, which collectively accounted for nearly all of the talc mined in the US in 2012, included American Talc Co., in Texas, Imerys Talc America, in Montana and Vermont, and Specialty Minerals, in Montana. Alberene in Virginia also produced talc, while CAL-TALC Inc. in California worked from existing stockpiles in 2012 without mining any new talc.
In terms of imported talc and talc produced in the US, the largest consumer of the mineral was the plastics market. The USGS estimates that of the 325,000 tonnes talc imported in 2012, 155,000 tonnes was used in plastics, 25,000 was used in paint, 20,000 in cosmetics, 12,000 in ceramics, 8,000 for paper, 8,000 for rubber, and talc for other uses was estimated at around 22,000 tonnes.
As the Chinese talc industry has moved from the export of crude talc to ground talc and micronised talc, demand for higher grade products has also risen and now exceeds supply. This has resulted in a steady increase of talc prices from China with an annual increase of around 10% for the past five years, according to [Jia Xiuzhuang].
