4.4.3.1 Availability and Consumption

The output of clay bricks was 2.423 million tons in China in 1997, that of high-alumina bricks was 1.374 million tons (Table 4.4.4), the total of them was 3.797 million tons. According to a consumption ratio of fireclay to the end product of 1.2, the demand of fireclay was 4.556 million tons, and when 10.078 million tons bulk fireclay materials were added, the total consumption of fireclay in 1997 was about 14.634 million tons.

Fireclay is an important export product in China. In recent years the export volume has been around 1 million tons, of which the high-alumina clay has taken up 2/3 and hard clay and soft clay altogether has taken up 1/3. The export volume of fireclay in China in 1997 was 1.289 million tons. The import volume of fireclay and related products was 4,500 tons ( Table 4.4.5 ).

Table 4.4.5 Exports and imports of fireclay and related products in recent years (¡Á103t )

The consumption and export volume of fireclay amounted to around 1.5923 million tons in 1997. Though, according to the statistics in 1997, the output of fire clay was 7.341 million tons, since the output of part of village and  township enterprises was not included in the statistic data, the actual total national output was much larger than the statistic data. Gene-rally, in China the supply of fireclay exceeds the demand.

4.4.3.2 Trends 

The Iron and steel industry is the major consumer of fireclay. In recent years, the consumption of the industry has accounted for 40% of the whole nation total consumption of fireclay, and the remaining has been used in the fields of the building materials industry, non-ferrous metallurgy, machine-building, chemical, and light industries and so on. At present, the consumption of fireclay per ton of steel in China is about 43 kg. With the progress of science and technology, up to 2000 and 2010, the consumption per ton of steel will be expected to drop to 38 kg and 31 kg respectively. If the output of steel reaches 120 million tons and 150 million tons respectively in China up to 2000 and 2010, on calculation according to the proportion, the demand of fireclay in the iron and steel industry in China will be 4.55 million tons and 4.65 million tons respectively. Taking the consumption of fireclay in the iron and steel industry as 40% of the total, China's various sectors including the iron and steel industry will totally need 11.37 million tons and 11.62 million tons in 2000 and 2010 respectively.  

Owing to the influence coming from the international economic situation and the decrease in per-ton steel consumption of refractories resulting from technological progress in the iron and steel industry, the export volume of fireclay will not increase greatly. It is estimated that a level of about 1.00~1.50 million tons will be kept in the years to come, of which the proportion of export of high-alumina clay will rise. 

According to the rich resources and the production capacity of fireclay in China at pre-sent, a production of 12~14 million tons of fireclay in 2000 and 2010 can be guaranteed, which will meet completely the needs at home and abroad. With the development of high-temperature smelting technology, the requirements for the quality of refractories are becoming higher and higher, and it is required that high-alumina clay should have more resistance to high temperature. The trend refractories is to develop into high-purity and high-density products. High-alumina clay resources are rich in China, but the proportion of good-quality high-alumina clay with explored reserves is not big. At the same time calcination technology and equipment in China fall behind, and the high-quality refractories can not meet the needs at home and abroad. In the years to come our main task is to develop the products with high purity and density by introducing the advanced technologies, setting up the production bases of high-quality raw materials and applying high-pressure forming and high-temperature calcinating equipment.