Sodium Sulfate Consumption Market in China            

Sodium sulfate (anhydrous sodium sulfate, Na2SO4), a basic chemical raw material, is widely used in industries like synthetic detergent, dyeing and printing , glass, papermaking, sodium sulfide and sodium silicate, and also serves as raw materials in the production of pharmaceuticals, food additives, barium sulfate and potassium sulfate.

* Consumption mix   

During 2001-2005, China's demand for sodium sulfate kept a high average annual increase rate of 20%. Then from 2006 to 2008, although the growth rate slowed down a little, it still managed to maintain at 10%. It is predicted that the domestic sodium sulfate demand will reach 14.4 million tons in 2010, hit 23 million tons in 2015, and total over 90 million tons during 2011-2016.
   In 2006, the domestic sodium sulfate consumption proportion was 27% for synthetic detergent industry, 33% for dyeing and printing, 16% for silicate (sodium silicate) production, and 24% for sodium sulfide, paper making, construction and pharmaceuticals. In recent years, because of the highly improved product quality by the advanced production technology and the lower price than soda ash, sodium sulfate consumption in the silicate industry grew rapidly and even has a trend to replace soda ash in most low and middle-grade sodium silicate production.
   In addition, as calcium carbide process PVC production develops rapidly in recent years by a low cost, its consumption on raw salt also grows quickly. Due to inadequate supply of raw salt, the dyeing and printing industry begins to use sodium sulfate extensively as pre-treatment additive instead of raw salt, despite that the sodium sulfate price is as high as that of industrial salt.
    It is estimated that in 2010, the domestic sodium sulfate consumption will reach about 600 000 tons in potassium sulfate production, and 3.4 million tons in washing industry, 1.2 million tons in textile dyeing and printing industry, 1.3 million tons in glass industry, and some 2.20 million tons in sodium sulfide industry.

* Problems  

Due to good prospects of profit, sodium sulfate enterprises flock to build new capacities and expand old ones, resulting in oversupply of sodium sulfate in the domestic market at present.
    Mirabilite is the main raw material for sodium sulfate production, and China's proved reserves of mirabilite is 17.78 billion tons while the total resource is estimated to reach 30 billion tons, ranking first in the world. Enterprises in southern China and eastern China, with their talent, technology, transportation and other advantages, lavish great efforts on sodium sulfate production and produce about two thirds of the national total output, thus leading to over-exploitation of mirabilite ores in these two regions. So, China's future large-scale mining of mirabilite will have to shift from these regions to western bonanza gradually.
    In addition, since many overseas sodium sulfate producers in the United State, Canada, Spain, and Japan, where are relatively short of mirabilite resources, have high production costs in sodium sulfate manufacturing, they have to cut or stop production and turn to directly import sodium sulfate from China. Countries like Brazil, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand are also in urgent need of mirabilite due to their rapid economy development.
    All these factors helped China's annual export growth rate of sodium sulfate keep at over 10%, further accelerating the domestic mirabilite exploitation. In 2006, China produced about 8.2 million tons of sodium sulfate and exported about 2.04 million tons. In 2007 and 2008, the export volume was 2.2447 million tons and 2.6118 million tons respectively. In the first half of 2009, China exported 1.3245 million tons while imported 307.08 tons only. In 2010, the export is expected to reach 3.5 million tons. At present, the Shanxi-based China Nafine Group International Co., Ltd. is China's largest sodium sulfate manufacturer with a total production capacity of over 2.0 million t/a, and also, it is the largest sodium sulfate exporter in China with exports accounting for a quarter of the national total.
   Despite large exploitation of mirabilite, most mirabilite manufacturers use outdated processes and usually make low grade products. So more than 95% of mirabilite supplied in domestic market are of average quality and fewer are qualified for specific purpose.
    The sodium sulfate produced in China is mostly used as cheap basic chemical raw materials, and the development of high value-added products is far from enough. In recent years, the application fields of sodium sulfate are continuously expanding. For example, colored sodium sulfate particles used in washing agent industry and sodium sulfate for special purpose in pharmaceutical and feed industries are getting more and more popular in consumers. Experts predict that by 2010, sodium sulfate for special purpose will account for about 10% of the total demand. Therefore, sodium sulfate producers should adjust their product portfolio, adhere to diversified development, and intensify the efforts in developing large and fine sodium sulfate, as well as high-value-added pharmaceutical or feed grade sodium sulfate so as to seize the market and obtain greater profits.