It has been a difficult couple of years for kaolin as the global recession spread to its end user markets. Paper coating and filling, accounting for 43% of kaolin sales in 2009 (according to consultant Ian Wilson), experienced a sharp decline resulting in part from decreased advertising and inventory reductions by major paper manufacturers. Kaolin’s second largest end user market is ceramics, linked strongly to construction and residential start-ups. Construction has been in infamous decline since 2008, due to a collapse of mortgage supply and a fall in demand for both residential and commercial properties.
During the last few years kaolin production in many countries remained static or fell and total world production fell by 3m tonnes between 2008 and 2009, according the US Geological Survey (USGS). However, end user markets have begun to recover, prompting an increase in demand for kaolin which producers must match.
Driving the...