Sodium bicarbonate (bicarbonate) may pick up the trend

March 3, business news due to the recession, the market demand for baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) declined, and the price of baking soda soared in 2008 finally fell back in 2009 However, after entering 2010, new inflation pressure (especially the rise of raw material prices) may push the price of baking soda upward According to the report of purchasing data network, the price of sodium carbonate, the raw material, has been around 25-28 cents / pound for most of 2008 But in the last six months of 2009, the price of baking soda fell to about 21 cents per pound However, as big soda suppliers start looking to raise the price of their products, buyers looking to sign new contracts are expected to pay a higher price Pat Fiedler, vice president of specialty products at Church & Dwight, the largest soda manufacturer in the United States, said that in recent years, the reason why soda manufacturers announced price adjustments was to offset the adverse impact of rising prices of sodium carbonate, an important raw material of soda It is understood that the raw materials and production costs of baking soda continue to rise In fact, the price increase of sodium carbonate mainly occurs in the United States Marguerite morrin, an analyst at CMAI's London office, points out that in most parts of the world, lower energy prices and weaker global demand have cooled sodium carbonate prices over the past year However, US sodium carbonate producers want to maintain their market share To do so, they reduce the price of their exports to a level that makes their products attractive to foreign buyers To offset the impact of lower export prices, these sodium carbonate producers are still "maintaining local product prices" in the US market Due to the lack of foreign competition, American sodium carbonate producers have more freedom to raise prices in the domestic market than in the overseas market Although the price of sodium carbonate in the United States rose in 2009, the pace of its rise was much slower than in previous years due to weak demand According to CMAI, demand for sodium carbonate fell by 9.5% in 2009, and it may take several years for market demand to return to pre recession levels Due to weak demand, the global average operating rate of sodium carbonate plants in 2009 was only 74% of the production capacity, which may be the lowest level the industry has seen so far However, David Calvo, business manager for baking soda production at Solvay chemicals in Houston, said that the price of baking soda in North America has not reached a certain level in the past five years to offset the decrease in profits caused by the rising price of sodium carbonate and other raw materials The demand for medicine and food is relatively stable Although the price of baking soda in the United States is not high by previous standards, the stagnation of economic development has forced some purchasers to adjust their purchasing strategies "Last year, demand for baking soda from the United States fell 40 percent because of the economic downturn," said a Houston based company's purchasing manager At the same time, I began to find that the price of baking soda from Chinese manufacturers was very competitive in the American market If Chinese products continue to look economically attractive, I will shift some of my purchases and reduce purchases of baking soda from the United States by another 25% " Some buyers have decided to give up soda altogether However, for soda buyers, supply is not a universal problem Fiedler, vice president of Church & Dwight, said all grades of baking soda have enough capacity Meanwhile, the demand for baking soda has stagnated For example, in 2009, the market demand for baking soda produced by Church & Dwight was flat or slightly reduced As the price of milk fell and some low-cost chemicals were used to replace baking soda, the market boom of baking soda for animal nutrition fell Sales of baking soda for the pool chemicals market are also falling On the other hand, in 2009, the export of baking soda in the United States was on the rise, and baking soda for air pollution control and pharmaceutical products continued to grow FMC reported similar results White, the company's sales director, pointed out that the market demand for the company's baking soda declined slightly in 2009 In the field of animal nutrition, replacing bicarbonate with cheap trisodium bicarbonate has reduced the demand for bicarbonate Industrial bicarbonate is also on the decline Less affected by the recession is the food and drug market, and the demand for baking soda has not been greatly affected Compared with other industries, American baking soda industry is much less affected by the recession Calvo of Solvay chemicals estimates that the demand for baking soda is less than 4% Due to the healthy development of the demand for baking soda in the fields of food, water treatment, medicine and consumer product applications, this partially offset the decline in the demand for baking soda in the field of animal nutrition A promising way out for baking soda in the future is to deal with flue gas emission Producers say demand for baking soda will rise modestly in 2010 "We look forward to 2010 possibly returning to 2008 levels," Fiedler said It coincides with the reform of China's salt industry system How can salt enterprises expand the downstream salt chemical industry? How to transform and upgrade the production capacity of caustic soda and soda ash? What is the future investment direction of new salt chemical industry? The first "China salt and alkali Cooperation Summit Forum and East China salt and chemical industry conference" will be held in Shouguang, Shandong Province, on April 27-29, 2010 The conference will focus on salt and chemical products such as raw salt, caustic soda, soda ash, snow melting agent, brine and bromine Cooperation and consultation Tel.: 0531-62311976 15865259935 Miss Pan Related key words: copper, aluminum, lead, zinc and tin