Resumen de Shifting trends reshape world soda ash market

Industrial Minerals

• The closure of 360,000 tpa capacity at Tata Chemicals' Magadi soda ash plant in in Kenya in June, which mainly supplied the Indian market, with a large part going to the glass industry, has caused soda ash prices to rise in India, Vincent Pedailles-Ledoux, senior analyst at IHS, explained to IM.

  "Prices for soda ash follow cost," Pedailles explained. "The US has a huge advantage because of its low gas prices - these are expected to stay low for at least the next 10 years".

  "The Turkish trona is very cheap to extract," Pedailles-Ledoux explained. "Shipping material from Turkey to Northern Europe is still cheaper, for some, than producing soda ash domestically - although this varies depending on the country".