It has only been two years since mid-2008’s spree of widespread magnesia capacity expansion announcements, which, within months, were so harshly impacted by the onset of the recession.
During this period the magnesia supply market was forced to make some readjustments in order to cope with the consequent fall in demand from key markets, and this included placing most of the initially planned capacity increases on hold.
Now, with markets in recovery and China showing no signs of easing its export restrictions, we appear to have come full circle with some of the major players commissioning, completing, and re-scheduling held over capacity and development plans.
Clearly, it will be some time until the market recovers to the heady highs of 2007-08, but compared to 2008-09, the future is looking bright. In this article we focus on caustic calcined magnesia’s (CCM) supply and markets.Blast at Premier Chemicals’ Gabbs magnesite...