2017: The year of the supply squeeze
By Siobhan Lismore-Scott
Published: Thursday, 14 December 2017
If 2016 should be remembered with a shudder, then 2017 will be remembered as the year when it became harder to source minerals. The supply situation changed for many minerals in the markets that Industrial Minerals covers, not least because many producers were simply shut down by strict environmental laws in China, or found it harder to source materials due to demand-side challenges, consultant editor Siobhan Lismore-Scott writes.
Without doubt, the most significant effects on most minerals
markets in 2017 arose from the policing of environmental
legislation in China.
The necessary inspections and eventual shutdowns affected
trade across China and created a supply squeeze in many
markets, raising first domestic prices and then the prices in
export markets.