While prices in July were heard at similar levels to June, market participants reported that consumers were trying to secure more volumes earlier than usual, signaling a potential market upside.
Fastmarkets relaunched its price assessments for boric acid on Wednesday July 31, after refining the source base and specifications. These prices – alongside several others for borates linked to boric acid – had been discontinued in January 2019.
Fastmarkets’ price assessment for boric acid, technical grade, granular, fca US West Coast was $1,100-1,250 per tonne on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the price assessment for boric acid, technical grade, granular, ddp Europe was $1,000-1,200 per tonne.
Fastmarkets also assessed the price for boric acid, technical grade, granular, cif China at $900-1,050 per tonne on Wednesday, and assessed the price for boric acid, technical grade, cif Brazil at $950-1,050 per tonne.
Demand prospects
Boric acid is a feedstock used in glass and ceramics production, as well as an agricultural micronutrient in some cases.
One of the uses that has generated more interest in recent times, however, is in permanent magnets. Although neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets need higher boron content used to make ferroalloys, technical-grade granular material is sometimes seen as a reference.
Sources often refer to boron as a sort of shadow critical mineral because of this reason. It is tied to a lot of applications in energy transition trends – solar panels, wind turbines, magnets in electric vehicle (EV) engines, thin-film transistor displays and even batteries – and is not discussed or covered as much as lithium, nickel or copper, for example.
“Even if we don’t expect a huge demand event happening [such as the one from EVs in the lithium market], prospects are positive,” one producer source said. “In energy markets, for example, [with solar and wind power projects coming online in the coming years,] boric acid equivalent demand is set to double by the turn of the decade.”
But there is only a fraction of boron used in those applications. Boron content in NdFeB magnets, wind turbines and blades, and photovoltaic panels, for example, is around 1-5%.
In fact, the majority of boron demand comes from borosilicate glass, with more than 20%, and then agriculture, glasswool and ceramics accounting for 15% each.
Larger producers include Rio Tinto and Searles Valley Minerals in the United States, Quiborax in Chile and Minera Santa Rita in Argentina. However, the largest market participant is, by far, Turkish state-owned company Eti Maden, holding around 60% of global supply.
Recent price trends
Market participants have been reporting a gradual increase in prices in the second half of the year, especially amid tougher negotiations with Turkey.
That bullishness coupled with the conflicts in the Red Sea, which sent freight rates soaring and made boric acid imports more expensive, especially in the second quarter of the year.
With a few offers being held off and shipments being delayed by 20-40 days, a few consumers in Asia reported that supply was insufficient at times, although they were in the minority.
On the other hand, most sources said that prices have stabilized since mid-May. Sentiment was more positive in July, but no material change to prices was heard.
There were some expectations surrounding the start-up of newcomer 5E Advanced Materials, which had begun operations at its small-scale plant in the US state of California. However, the company was progressing slowly in its ramp-up and was testing products with potential clients, according to sources with knowledge of the matter.
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