Calcium producer stocks equal to one-year demand

Producer stocks of calcium metal in 1987 were apparently equal to one year’s world demand or just under 2,000 tonnes, according to Roskill Information Services, a U.K.-based company specializing in minerals marketing information. Production capacity could be as much as 5,000 tonnes per annum while utilization is believed to be no more than 50%, a recent study by the company concludes.

The study reviews the current status of the industry, which, on the face of it, looks unpromising but on closer investigation may appear sounder.

Calcium consumption is greatest in the United States where about 800 tonnes are used annually. However, consumption has fallen since the early 1980s and in 1983 it was 970 tonnes. The decline has been largely the result of a fall in demand for calcium in steel refining. Calcium injection systems have been improved and yields greatly enhanced, so less calcium is now required to give the same or better results.

Japanese consumption from 1981-84 varied between 120 and 175 tonnes per annum while European consumption is not recorded but is thought to be comparable to that in the U.S.

Metallurgical applications account for approximately 60% of total calcium consumption; the steel industry uses considerable amounts as a ladle addition to assist desulphurization and for inclusion modifications in continuously cast aluminum-killed steels. In the last few years calcium injection systems have been improved, greatly enhancing the yield of calcium. This has resulted in a trend towards the use of calcium wire injection and away from calcium silicide injection, although the latter is still the most widely used, largely due to raw material costs.

However, since it is now possible to get the same or better results using less calcium, consumption in this end-use is falling. Nevertheless, steel refining is still the largest metallurgical end-use for calcium metal, accounting for about 25% of U.S. consumption.

Other metallurgical end-uses for calcium include lead refining, calcium alloys, the production of nodular iron castings, and the production of non-ferrous metals by calciothermic reduction. Lead- calcium maintenance-free storage batteries emerged during the 1970s as a second major end-use for calcium. Most mf batteries produced are used for starting, lighting and ignition (sli) in automobiles but there are also a number of industrial and defence applications.

World consumption of calcium in mf batteries, which is more than 300 tonnes per annum, is greatest in the U.S. Lead-calcium sli batteries are the largest single end-use for calcium in that country, accounting for 30% of total consumption.

Elsewhere in the world, the lead- calcium battery has been less accepted, the major reason being the resurgence of the lead-antimony battery. New batteries have been developed with levels of antimony low enough to provide virtually maintenance-free characteristics. They are also cheaper and suffer less from the problems of deep discharge than do lead-calcium batteries.

The U.S. is the only major importer of calcium. Until the early 1980s, Canada was its main source of supply, a position now occupied by China. Although consumption in the U.S. has fallen in recent years imports from China have grown. The reason for this is thought to have been a significant difference in price between Chinese and U.S.-produced calcium which has enabled imported calcium to gain a greater share of the market.

Calcium prices have been increasing steadily for more than a decade, but in real terms the rise has been small. In most of its applications, with the possible exception of mf batteries, the technical merits of calcium so far outweigh its cost that further modest price increases will have little effect on demand. “The Economics of Calcium Metals 1987,” which includes 71 pages and 22 tables, is available for $450(US) from Roskill Information Services, 2 Clapham Road, London, SW9 OJA, England.