Given the current consumption levels, China might have to brace itself for an imbalance in phosphorus resource reserves.

1. China is facing an imbalance in phosphorus resource reserves
Summary: Given the current consumption levels, China might have to brace itself for an
imbalance in phosphorus resource reserves.
Tags: phosphorus resources, phosphorus, mineral resources, collophanite, annual
consumption
Despite much effort to increase phosphorus resource reserves, China still needs to brace
itself for an imbalance in phosphorus resource reserves in the face of the fast growing
exploitation of phosphorus resources, according to Phosphorus Industry China Monthly
Report 1304 issued by CCM in April.
On Mar. 27th, 2013, China's Ministry of Land and Resources published positive data on
China's current mineral resources status. The data shows that the proven reserves of
phosphorus ore reached 20.74 billion tonnes in China by the end of 2012, increasing by
4.85% compared to that of 2011. However, the newly increasing reserves of phosphorus
resources are still incapable of offsetting the annual consumption of phosphorus
resources.
In the light of the data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China's basic
reserve of phosphorus resources maintained a continued decline. By the end of 2011,
China owned 2,893 million tonnes of phosphorus ore whose actual economic value can
be exploited under the current mining technology.
Furthermore, China still maintains an accelerating growth in the exploitation of
phosphorus ore.
In the first two months of 2013, China produced 12,719,393 tonnes of phosphorus ore
with a content of 30% P2O5, increasing by 15.69% compared to that of the same period of
last year. It could forecast that the output of phosphorus ore might exceed 100 million
tonnes in China in 2013 at the current rate. In recent years, China has maintained a fast
growth in the exploitation of phosphorus ore. From 2008 to 2012, the output of
phosphorus ore nearly doubled in China, from 49.72 million to 95.78 million tonnes. At the
current consumption levels, China can barely provide itself with essential phosphorus
resources for more than 40 years under the current mining technology.
China could inject part of its phosphorus ore into the international market in addition to
meeting self-sufficiency targets; however, another truth is that China's abundant
phosphorus resources are of low grade. Average purity of China’s phosphorus ore is only
17% and 80% of China’s phosphorus ore is middle and low-grade collophanite, which
includes plenty of impurities; thus the workload of ore dressing for it is bigger than that for
high grade varieties. As the largest phosphorus ore consumption country, China has seen

2. phosphorus ore as a strategic resource for years. For China, therefore, the solution to
relieving the potential resource tension is to encourage advancements in low-grade
phosphorus ore utilization technology.
Table Contents of Phosphorus Industry China Monthly Report 1304:
Editor's Note
Headlines of Phosphorus Industry China Monthly Report 1304
Phosphorus ore
Industry Dynamics: China is facing an imbalance in phosphorus resources reserves
Policy & legislation: 16 phosphorus mining firms are entitled to export phosphorus ore in
2013
Company Dynamics: Hubei Xingfa to get expansion in phosphorus mining sector
Yellow Phosphorus
Industry Dynamics: YunPhos expects to accelerate comprehensive utilization project of
yellow phosphorus tail gas
Phosphate Fertilizer
Company Dynamics: Shindoo to step into Vietnam’s fertilizer market
Industry Dynamics: MAP to benefit from the booms of water soluble fertilizer in China
Fine Phosphate Chemical
Policy & legislation: The US to keep anti-dumping duty on sodium hexametaphosphate
from China
Company Dynamics: CXPC‘s 2012 gross profit dropped 46.95%
Global Insight
Italmatch Chemicals slips closer to global expansion target
Supply & Demand
Market review of prime phosphate chemical in March 2013
Import & Export
International trade of phosphate chemicals in Feb. 2013
Price Update
Price monitoring of some phosphate chemicals in March 2013
Phosphorus Industry China Monthly Report, issued by CCM on 15
th
, keeps providing the
latest company dynamics related to China’s phosphorus industry, and market analysis on
supply and demand, import and export as well as global insight.
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