Magnesite (Raw & Calcined Magnesia)

Raw magnesite lumps and dead-burned magnesia for refractories

Magnesite under HS 2519.10 is natural magnesium carbonate, and its calcined forms under HS 2519.90 are the magnesia that lines steel converters, ladles, cement kilns and glass furnaces. The buyer's first number is MgO: raw crystalline or cryptocrystalline magnesite runs 44–47% MgO (the balance is CO₂ that leaves on firing, so loss on ignition of 48–52% is the sign of clean stone), caustic calcined magnesia (CCM, fired at 700–1,000 °C) 85–95% MgO, and dead-burned magnesia (DBM, fired above 1,500 °C to a bulk density of 3.2–3.4 g/cm³) 92–97% MgO for refractory brick and monolithics. The impurities decide the grade more than the MgO does. Silica (≤ 0.5–1% in DBM, up to 3–6% tolerated in raw stone) forms low-melting silicates that cut refractoriness; calcium oxide is held to a CaO/SiO₂ ratio near 2 so lime is tied up as dicalcium silicate rather than free; iron oxide (≤ 0.5–1% for high-purity, 3–7% in iron-rich DBM) darkens the product and lowers hot strength; boron is capped at 0.01–0.03% because it collapses the hot modulus of rupture. Size is contracted as lump (25–200 mm for kiln feed, 0–50 mm for calcining plants), granular DBM fractions (0–1, 1–3, 3–5 mm) or ground CCM (95% passing 200 mesh) for agricultural and water-treatment use.

The trade runs from a few crystalline deposits to steelmakers and refractory plants, with China the largest producer, largest importer of raw stone and the reference for DBM pricing. UN Comtrade, 2025 export declarations: Turkiye shipped 186,586 MT of HS 2519 to 52 partners, led by Austria (73,935 MT, 39.6%, USD 364/MT), Spain (24,436 MT at USD 143), Germany (14,600 MT at USD 311), Bulgaria (10,735 MT at USD 93) and Italy (10,687 MT at USD 237), with the spread in unit value showing raw lump at the bottom of the range and DBM at the top. Greece, Australia, Brazil, Spain and South Africa are the other origins we work, and the South African trade is a bulk one: raw magnesite loads out of Coega in Handysize lots for Chinese calcining plants, where the ore is worth USD 60–120/MT and the voyage is a large share of the delivered cost. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company that also runs a chartering desk (LaycanDesk), so a raw-stone stem is quoted with the vessel, and DBM or CCM in bulk bags is placed on FOB, CFR and CIF terms against SGS or Intertek chemistry, loss on ignition, bulk density and sizing certificates. Send your MgO floor, SiO₂ and CaO ceilings, the CaO/SiO₂ ratio your refractory engineer wants, boron limit, size fraction and whether you calcine yourself, and we match the deposit and the tonnage to it.

Need the ship as well? Our chartering desk prices bulk limestone, gypsum and aggregates freight on LaycanDesk.