Fluorite is also known as fluorspar, and it is readily available naturally in all the colour spectrums. Being the mineral form of calcium fluorite, it also is a halide mineral and is visible not only in daylight but also in ultraviolet light.
Pure fluorite that is naturally found is colourless and various colours that it possess are usually because of impurities in the mineral. Fluorite is immensely popular for its cubic design and its various colours such as blue, yellow, purple, and green, and it is famous as a fluorescent mineral.
Fluorite is usually drilled to manufacture jewelleries, however, due to the softness of its nature, it is rarely used as a semiprecious stone. Yet, fluorite is high in demand across various industrial areas such as building & construction, metallurgy, chemicals, and glass industries.
The global fluorite market is predominantly driven by the growing demand for fluorite, being a precursor to almost all fluorite compounds, as an important raw material in the production of hydrofluoric acid.
As hydrofluoric acid is one the most commonly used commercial chemicals, the demand for fluorite is expected to remain significantly high. Apart from this, leading players in the global fluorite market are also capitalizing on the increasing applications of the mineral across a wide range of industries.
Fluorite is witnessing high demand in the manufacture of glass and ceramics, as it facilitates in surface treatments to produce opalescent and glossy surfaces. With a mounting number of manufacturers using fluorite to make attractive and durable consumer products that are made with glass, the consumption of fluorite is expected to increase in the coming years.
Furthermore, metallurgical-grade fluorite is also witnessing high demand in the manufacturing of steel, iron, aluminum, and other metals. Thereby, leading players in the global fluorite market are expected to expand their customer base into metal producers to boost the sales of metallurgical-grade fluorite.
While the industrial activities around the world are gaining momentum, production innovation is also becoming an indispensable part of the process in nearly all industrial applications.
However, typically in most developed countries, sustainability is becoming an important aspect for both industrialists as well as customers, which is encouraging all stakeholders to highlight the importance of reducing the carbon footprint of their business activities. This is likely to have a paramount impact on the demand and sales of fluorite in the coming years.
The awareness about the potential environmental hazards of using fluorite in triggering end users in various industries to shift to more sustainable alternatives to fluorite. End users are aiming to replace chemicals manufacturing using fluorite with hydrocarbon-based refrigerants in most common industrial applications.
Dolomitic limestone or olivine are among the most popular substitutes for fluorite used in the steel and iron industry. This way, increasing end-user awareness about the environmental hazards of fluorite may lead to the loss of market share for leading players in the global fluorite market in the coming years.
Based on the geographical factors, the fluorite market is broadly divided into seven regions - North America, Latin America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Oceania, and Middle East & Africa. With a significant stronghold of global leaders' presence in Asia Pacific, the APAC market for fluorite is expected to witness incremental growth in the coming years.
The flourishing growth of the chemicals industry in the Asia Pacific region is mainly attributed to the natural resources and availability of commercially significant minerals including fluorite.
Growing demand for steel and aluminum in emerging Asian economies is one of the leading factors contributing to the growth of the fluorite market in the region, Furthermore, the construction industry accounts for a substantial share in the burgeoning consumption of fluorite in China and India.
China, being one of the largest producers of fluorspar, accounts for a huge share in the export of fluorite, and this is expected to drive a rise in downstream activities in the Chinese market for fluorite.
While the Asia Pacific region holds a strong position in the global market for fluorite, North America and Europe are also expected to create new growth opportunities for fluorite market players in the coming years. Global players are increasingly focused on expanding their hold over natural mines and resources of minerals in order to meet the increasing demand for commercial materials such as fluorite across the region.
In September 2019, Do-Fluoride Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter called "DFD") - a global business involved in research, production, and sales of the high-performance fluoride products - announced that it has planned to purchase nearly 70% stakes of Luoyang Lanbao Fluoride Industry Co.,Ltd. - a leading fluorite mining and beneficiation enterprise in China.
The company announced that the deal was finalised at nearly US$ 11 million (RMB 77 million), and that it is aiming at gaining more access to raw materials to facilitate its own business operations.
Luoyang Lanbao owns 6 mines and 3 fluorite concentrators and in Luoyang, Chongqing and other areas, which account for nearly 3 million tonnes of fluorite, which can lead to producing over 60 thousand tonnes of flotation fluorite powders per year.
In April 2020, Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (formerly Lithium Energy Products Inc.) - a Canada-based natural resource mining company engaged in the business of acquiring and exploring lithium properties - announced that it has entered a definitive agreement to acquire the Liard Fluorspar Project - one of the most important fluorite prospects in British Columbia - to expand its geographical footprint. With this acquisition, the company also aims to reduce the impact of global uncertainties vis-a-vis the availability of fluorite by diversifying its portfolio as well as the countries where the company operates.
The fluorite market can be segmented on the basis of the following:
By Type
By Grade
By End-use Industry
Fluorite Market
Thank you!
You will receive an email from our Business Development Manager. Please be sure to check your SPAM/JUNK folder too.
