Calcium Carbonate (GCC & PCC)

Ground and precipitated CaCO₃ by purity, brightness and D50

Calcium carbonate is bought on particle size and whiteness, and the specification changes with the industry more than with the source. Ground calcium carbonate (GCC) is limestone or marble crushed and milled dry or wet to a controlled top cut, and it is described by D50 (the median particle size: 45 microns for a construction filler, 5–10 microns for plastics and rubber, 2 microns and below for paper coating and premium paint), by top cut D98, by CaCO₃ content (97–99.5%), by ISO or TAPPI brightness (90–98, with 94+ for paper and paint), by oil absorption, and by acid-insoluble residue and silica, which decide abrasion in an extruder or a paper machine. Precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is made by calcining limestone, slaking the lime and re-carbonating it, which gives a finer, narrower and purer product (0.7–3 microns, 98–99.5% CaCO₃, brightness 96–98) for paper filler and coating, pharmaceutical and food use, sealants and toothpaste. Stearic-acid coating on either grade (1–3%) makes the powder hydrophobic and dispersible in PVC, polyolefins and rubber. Under UN Comtrade 2025 export declarations HS 2836 blends calcium carbonate with soda ash, and the low-price reporters are the carbonate exporters: Malaysia 0.15 million MT at an average USD 249/MT, Saudi Arabia 0.11 million MT at USD 125, Oman 12,800 MT at USD 117 and Thailand 0.15 million MT at USD 398 (a book that includes Thai PCC and coated grades). Oman's own declarations under HS 2836.50 for 2025 show just 12,800 MT across seven partners, 11,600 of it to Qatar at USD 110/MT and 840 MT to Bahrain at USD 87; the far larger tonnages leaving Oman and the UAE as crushed limestone and marble chips travel under other headings, which is why an Omani GCC supplier quotes on one HS code and ships on another. Egyptian and Vietnamese marble and limestone, Malaysian Perak marble and Omani Sohar limestone are the deposits behind most Indian Ocean and Gulf GCC supply.

The buyer is a paper mill (filler and coating), a plastics compounder or masterbatch maker, a paint and coatings plant, a rubber or cable maker, a glass plant, a PVC pipe or profile extruder, a ceramics or putty maker, an animal-feed mill (limestone flour for laying hens) or a construction-chemicals producer. Each buys a different D50 and brightness, and none of them can substitute another's grade without re-tuning the line. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers GCC and PCC from Omani, Egyptian, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Saudi producers and trader allocations against SGS or Intertek certification of CaCO₃, brightness, D50 and D98, moisture, oil absorption and acid-insoluble residue at load, coated or uncoated, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Fine grades move in 25 kg bags and 1 MT jumbo bags in containers; construction-filler and feed grades in jumbo bags breakbulk or in Handysize bulk lots into a buyer with covered storage, and because CBIL also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), freight can be quoted alongside a bulk cargo. Send your D50, brightness floor, coating and end-use and we will work the deposit to it.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices chemical parcel tanker chartering on LaycanDesk.