4.22.3.1 Availability and Consumption

In 1997 China's production of high-duty kaolin (at and above the ceramic grade) was 2.40 million tons, of which the production of dressed kaolin was 600,000 tons.

About 80% of kaolin is used in the ceramic industry, while kaolin used in the papermaking industry occupies a small proportion. In 1997 the supply of China's kaolin was about 1.50 million tons if poor-quality products of some small enterprises and stocks were deducted, and the consumption exceeded one million tons. The structure of consumption was roughly as follows: ceramic and refractory industries 80%; papermaking industry 10%; rubber industry 3%; other industries 7%. In terms of the quantity of the supply of kaolin,

Table 4.22.2 Main kaolin mines and coal-measures kaolin processing enterprises in China

Table 4.22.3 Production of main coal-measures kaolin processing enterprises in China

the supply and demand are largely in balance or there is a slight surplus, but in terms of the kaolin commodities, the supply of high-duty kaolin falls short of demand; it is particularly the case with paper coating-grade kaolin, which still must be exported every year.

Since the late 1980s, the imports and exports of kaolin have increased steadily. The export volume first exceeded 100,000 tons in 1989, reached 314,900 tons in 1991 and hit 820,500 tons in 1997. The earnings of foreign currency through the export in 1997 were US $ 18.50 million at an average export price of US $ 22.54/ton. In 1997 China imported 54,300 tons of kaolin, valued at US $ 13.26 million at an average import price of US $ 257.80/ton. The main exported kaolin product of China is ceramic-grade kaolin, and the main imported product is papermaking-grade high-duty kaolin. The kaolin products are imported at a high price and exported at a low price, so the economic returns are poor. The kaolin products are mainly exported to Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Macao and imported from the United States, New Zealand etc. China's kaolin imports and exports in 1994~1997 are given in Table 4.22.4.

Table 4.22.4 China's kaolin imports and exports in 1994~1997

4.22.3.2 Trends

In recent years, ceramic-grade kaolin products have been more than self-sufficient in China. Although the exports increase somewhat, a small amount is still kept in stock and paper coating-grade kaolin cannot meet the demand and needed to be imported. Now the construction of concentrated dressing factories is being accelerated in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Hunan and Henan. Once these dressing factories are built, paper coating-grade kaolin can not only meet the domestic demand but some of it can also be exported. According to the prediction, the world demand of kaolin will grow steadily and the production of kaolin will increase at the same time. Looking forward to the future, the kaolin market will face keen competition from white minerals such as calcium carbonate, talc and gypsum. Moreover, the consumption of papermaking-grade kaolin will be threatened by the development of new technologies; for example, the appearance of chemimechanical pulp, application of recycled paper and problems of world-wide steadily sound environmental protection all may result in the decrease of the consumption of papermaking-group kaolin. Furthermore, the use of kaolin in ceramics, refractories, building materials, coating materials, rubber, plastics, chemicals and agricultural chemicals will increase slowly. It is estimated that the kaolin consumption in the above fields will account for about 15% of the total kaolin consumption.

The consumption of kaolin in China will change from traditional ceramics and ordinary refractories to the papermaking industry. At present China's papermaking industry is increasing at a rate of 9.6% each year, but the average per capita consumption of paper is only 17 kg, far lower than the annual average per capita consumption (44.8 kg) of the world and that (19.8 kg) of Asia. Kaolin used for papermaking accounts for 8 to 10% of the materials for this purpose. So the market of kaolin used for papermaking in China has great potential. It is estimated that by 2000 the kaolin consumption will increase to 1.50 millions tons, including 300,000 tons for knife coating-grade kaolin, 650,000 tons for the electric porcelain industry, 150,000 tons for the rubber industry and 70,000 tons for the petroleum industry.

Kaolin resources of China have great potential. Besides retained reserves, Carboniferous to Jurassic and Tertiary coal measures also contain abundant sedimentary kaolin. According to the statistics, in the Dongsheng coal field of Inner Mongolia, one ton of kaolin can be recovered from two to three tons of raw kaolin, whereas at Maomin of Guangdong the recovery of one ton of kaolin requires five to six tons of raw kaolin. So the development of coal-measures kaolin has good prospects.

The world kaolin market will keep a development trend in several years, and the production of kaolin, especially high-duty kaolin, will grow progressively. Therefore, we should fix our attention on both the domestic and foreign markets, integrate abundant resources with introduction of foreign funds and technology, be based on intensive processing and develop new products to turn China's kaolin industry into an industry that can both meet the domestic demand and earn foreign currency through export.