North America Kaolin Market – Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029

North America Kaolin Market, By Grade (Calcined, Hydrous, Delaminated, Surface Treated, and Structured), Process (Water-Washed, Airfloat, Calcined, Delaminated, and Surface-Modified & Unprocessed), Application (Paper, Ceramics, Paint & Coatings, Fiberglass, Plastic, Rubber, Pharmaceuticals & Medical, Cosmetics, and Others), Industry Trends and Forecast to 2029

North America Kaolin Market Analysis and Insights

The North America kaolin market is expected to grow significantly in the forecast period of 2022 to 2029. Data Bridge Market Research analyses that the market is growing with a CAGR of 4.4% in the forecast period of 2022 to 2029 and is expected to reach USD 1,511.86 million by 2029. The major factor driving the growth of the Kaolin market is the rise in construction activities across the globe, favorable chemical and physical properties of kaolin, increase in demand for kaolin from various end-use industries, and high adoption of kaolin as a coating additive.

Industries are increasingly adopting kaolin as a raw material for the production of commercially important medicinal and cosmetic products. In addition, chemical property such as adsorbing proteins, lipids, and oils has increased the use of kaolin to produce face washes, facial masks, mud packs, body scrubs, and other cosmetic products. Medicinal products, such as mouthwashes, surgical pads, drying agents, and temporary protectants against diaper rash, use kaolin as a key ingredient due to its favorable chemical properties. Therefore, extensive use of kaolin in varied applications and industries may drive the growth of the North America kaolin market.

The North America kaolin market report provides details of market share, new developments, and the impact of domestic and localized market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, products approvals, strategic decisions, product launches, geographic expansions, and technological innovations in the market. To understand the analysis and the market scenario, contact us for an analyst brief. Our team will help you create a revenue impact solution to achieve your desired goal.

Market Definition

Kaolin, also called china clay, is a soft white clay used as a necessary ingredient in manufacturing paper, rubber, cosmetics, and others. Kaolin is used as a filler agent in the paper industry with adhesive, which improves the paper's appearance, giving it varied gloss, smoothness, brightness, opacity, and printability. In addition, the product enhances paper's printability by providing added ink absorption, ink pigment holdout, and increased roughness. It is highly used in the ceramic industry for manufacturing porcelain and refractory. Kaolin improves mechanical strength and abrasion resistance in the rubber industry.

North America Kaolin Market Dynamics

This section deals with understanding the market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges. All of this is discussed in detail below:

Drivers

• Rise in construction activities across the globe

Increasing construction activities in developing economies have been supported by greater migration of the rural population to urban centers and rising investment in infrastructure development. Growing product demand due to the increasing residential remodeling practices in various countries, such as the U.S. drifting consumer focus towards replacing wood floors with ceramic tiles, drives the kaolin market growth. Moreover, North America is also expected to witness a rapid pace due to growing ceramic production and consumption in its countries.

• Favorable chemical and physical properties of kaolin

Kaolin is preferred as a metal of choice in various application and end-use industries owing to its desired and favorable chemical and physical properties it executes when used. There is a growing demand for kaolin clay in the plastics industry as its use enhances its electrical performance, durability, and strength. Moreover, the increasing adoption of ceramics is due to the opacity, chemical inertness, non-abrasive texture, and flat shape of kaolin clay. In addition, the use of kaolin in concretes and mortar is rising due to its thermal stability. Some grades of kaolin have fine particle sizes, high adsorption, and suspension properties.

• Increase in demand for kaolin from various end-use industries

Many significant variables and properties that act in favor of kaolin and rising demand for kaolin-made products have kept the kaolin market growing steadily worldwide. The most common application of kaolin is in the paper sector, allowing it to be utilized as a paper coating with a smooth texture and appropriate opacity. The increase is attributable to increased demand for paper from various end-use industries, such as packaging and printing. Furthermore, this material is widely used to fill and coat pieces as it reduces particle size and enhances strength. Kaolin is frequently used in the paper industry because it offers a variety of qualities, including good ink receptivity, paper smoothness, and the optimum opacity for paper making.

• High adoption of kaolin as a coating additive

The paper and paints & coatings industry are among the major users of kaolin in its products. Kaolin is used to enhance the performance of paints in the form of better suspension properties, rapid dispersion, corrosion resistance, superior water resistance, and reduced viscosities. In addition, kaolin is employed as a coating and filling agent when combined with adhesives in paper coating to provide its opacity, color, and printability. Kaolin is the most extensively used particulate mineral in the filling and coating paper. It improves paper appearance, characterized by gloss, smoothness, brightness, and opacity, and of greatest significance, it improves printability. Paper is also filled with kaolin to extend fiber.

Opportunities

• Key strategic initiatives implemented by leading companies

The North America kaolin market has seen an unexpected negative effect due to the emergence of COVID-10 and nationwide lockdowns and movement restrictions. Therefore, the manufacturers mostly focus on keeping the liquidity flow to avoid further losses. Moreover, key players in the kaolin market have been implementing various strategic initiatives and developments to gain a major and dominant market share and enhance their operations.

• Improved technologies in mining practices of kaolin

Technology development for the processing of kaolin is essentially the development of a sequentilised flow sheet for its beneficiation so that all unwanted impurities are removed, and the required properties of the processed material are ensured by suitable sizing, brightness improvement, surface modifications, and other operations. Modern methods of (wet route) kaolin beneficiation use techniques such as crushing/attrition, blunging, screening or mechanical classification, centrifugal separations, magnetic separation, selective flocculation, froth flotation, and oxidative and reductive bleaching. Additional techniques, such as attrition/delamination, pugging, calcination, surface modification, etc., are also employed to enhance the end product's properties.

Restraints/Challenges

• Negative effect on paper industry due to the emergence of covid-19

The COVID-19 outbreak has disrupted kaolin market manufacture and supply, delaying the worldwide industry's expansion. Many kaolin enterprises are employing ways to avoid downtime losses, which are increasingly concerning as the pandemic's effects endure. The performance of kaolin in paper filling applications has been eroded by competition from alternative materials, particularly calcium carbonates. Slow growth in coated paper production will limit advances for kaolin in the future, thus, restraining the development of the North America kaolin market.

• Kaolin mining causes numerous environmental and health hazards

From the environmental point of view, the most significant environmental problem arises because the kaolin extractive operations create surfaces with high susceptibility to runoff and water erosion, with a high potential for on- and off-site environmental effects. Moreover, mining kaolin has long-term negative impacts on the environment, such as environmental and agricultural imbalances, erosion, silting of rivers and lakes, and deforestation. Because of the removal of vegetation for the process of excavation and removal of clay, part of the local soil is unprotected, causing compaction processes in certain situations and leaching. Once the leached soil becomes unsuitable for agriculture, the land used for clay extraction ends up being abandoned by the owners. Therefore, mining kaolin results in the degradation of the environment and human health, which is expected to restrain the growth and development of the North America kaolin market.

• Easy availability of substitutes

Some other easily available substitutes in the market are bentonite clay. Bentonite clay has powerful oil absorption properties and can absorb more than its body mass in water. This makes it an excellent ingredient for people with extremely oily skin and drives its use in cosmetic products. Bentonite clay is composed of montmorillonite, a type of smectite clay. It has high water content and swells when it comes into contact with water. This makes it effective at drawing out impurities from the skin. Another alternative is fuller's earth, which is also used for skin care and detoxification. In addition, rhassoul clay is a clay that is mined in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. It is rich in minerals, has cleansing and conditioning properties, and is a great alternative to kaolin clay.

• Rise in the price of kaolin

The companies and players operating in the North America kaolin market are focused on increasing kaolin prices to ensure the business's long-term sustainability. These players announced an increase in prices in 2021 for different applications, in which paper was among the key applications. Most companies experienced inflation in various aspects of the business, including inflation in chemicals and freight costs. In addition, the downgrade caused due to the breakout of the pandemic from key application sectors directly impacted the revenue earnings of major market participants.

Recent Development

• In July 2022, Thiele Kaolin Company announced a price increase of 9% for all product categories owing to the current North America economic climate, which has resulted in increased costs to manufacturing operations worldwide. For the company, these cost increases have impacted energy, chemicals, labor, mining, maintenance, and other inputs needed to produce quality products.
• In November 2021, KaMin LLC / CADAM agreed to acquire the kaolin mineral business of BASF SE. The kaolin minerals business is part of BASF's Performance Chemicals division. This greatly strengthens the company's kaolin business across the globe.

North America Kaolin Market Scope

The North America kaolin market is categorized based on grade, process, and application. The growth amongst these segments will help you analyze major growth segments in the industries and provide the users with a valuable market overview and market insights to make strategic decisions to identify core market applications.

Grade

• Calcined
• Hydrous
• Delaminated
• Surface treated
• Structured

Based on grade, the North America kaolin market is classified into five segments namely calcined, hydrous, delaminated, surface treated, and structured.

Process

• Water-washed
• Airfloat
• Calcined
• Delaminated
• Surface-modified & unprocessed

Based on process, the North America kaolin market is classified into five segments water-washed, airfloat, calcined, delaminated, and surface-modified & unprocessed.

Application

• Paper
• Ceramics
• Paint & coatings
• Fiberglass
• Plastic
• Rubber
• Pharmaceuticals & medical
• Cosmetics
• Others

Based on the application, the North America kaolin market is classified into nine segments paper, ceramics, paint & coatings, fiberglass, plastic, rubber, pharmaceuticals & medical, cosmetics, and others.

North America Kaolin Market Regional Analysis/Insights

The North America kaolin market is segmented based on grade, process, and application.

The countries in the North America kaolin market are the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. U.S is dominating the North America kaolin market in terms of market share and market revenue due to the region's high adoption of kaolin as a coating additive.

The country section of the report also provides individual market-impacting factors and market regulation changes that impact the market's current and future trends. Data point downstream and upstream value chain analysis, technological trends, porter's five forces analysis, and case studies are some pointers used to forecast the market scenario for individual countries. Also, the presence and availability of North America brands and their challenges faced due to large or scarce competition from local and domestic brands, the impact of domestic tariffs, and trade routes are considered while providing forecast analysis of the country data.   

Competitive Landscape and North America Kaolin Market Share Analysis

North America kaolin market competitive landscape provides details by competitors. Details included are company overview, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, production sites and facilities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product trials pipelines, product approvals, patents, product width and breadth, application dominance, technology lifeline curve. The above data points provided are only related to the companies' focus related to the North America kaolin market.

Some of the prominent participants operating in the North America kaolin market are:

•  BASF SE
• Imerys S.A.
• SIBELCO
• Thiele Kaolin Company
• I-Minerals Inc.
• KaMin LLC. / CADAM

Research Methodology

Data collection and base year analysis are done using data collection modules with large sample sizes. The market data is analyzed and estimated using market statistical and coherent models. In addition, market share analysis and key trend analysis are the major success factors in the market report. The key research methodology used by the DBMR research team is data triangulation which involves data mining, analysis of the impact of data variables on the market, and primary (industry expert) validation. Data models include Vendor Positioning grids, Market Time Line Analysis, Market Overview and Guide, Company Positioning grids, Company Market Share Analysis, Standards of Measurement, North America Vs. Regional and Vendor Share Analysis. Please request an analyst call in case of further inquiry.