International Trade In Industrial Minerals

In the period 1982-1992, world trade has increased in real terms about 65% (Anon., 1992b). The nominal value of this trade in the early 1990s is approximately $5 trillion. In 1970, mineral commodities constituted approximately 20% of the value of world trade. By 1980, despite rising petroleum prices, mineral commodities made up about 18% of the total value of world trade, with crude oil amounting to 16% and other minerals the remaining 2%. By 1987, the major worldwide economic slowdown and falling oil prices meant that minerals constituted only about 10% of the total value of world trade, or about $500 billion in 1987 (Kimbell and Zajac, 1988). The importance of minerals in world trade since 1987 has remained at about these levels. Approximately 40% of world mineral commodity production is traded internationally. Some economists predict that minerals and other commodities are likely to continue to decline in relative importance in terms of the value of world economic output, as well as world trade, into the foreseeable future (Thurow, 1992). This projected decline in commodity demand may also be related to much slower global economic growth over the next decade (Alperovitz, 1992). Industrial minerals and rocks constituted roughly 2.5% of total mineral commodity exports in the late 1980s, but their relative importance as a portion of mineral commodity exports nearly doubled in the decade 1977-1987 (Kimbell and Zajac, 1988). Industrial minerals constitute the most rapidly growing share of total mineral commodity exports. In addition, price declines among industrial minerals were uncommon in the decade 1977-1987 (Kimbell and Zajac, 1988). While prices of sulfur and most of the fertilizer minerals have seen some erosion and slow growth in markets in the period 1987-1992, other industrial minerals have increased in both value and share of the export market (USBM, 1992). The place of industrial minerals in world trade becomes even more significant when one looks at shipments of chemical fertilizers and basic chemicals that are counted as manufactured products rather than industrial mineral commodities. The United States is the major world producer of industrial mineral commodities and products made from these nonmetallic minerals and rocks. The former Soviet Union, now The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and China have very significant deposits of industrial minerals. Japan exports significant quantities of cement. The US, CIS, and Morocco export large amounts of phosphate rock. Canada and Germany export substantial amounts of potash. Sulfur from Poland, industrial diamonds from South Africa, Zaire, and Brazil, and fluorspar from Mexico are all important exports.