Kaolin & Ball Clay

Paper coating and filler kaolin, calcined kaolin and ceramic ball clay by brightness and particle size

Kaolin (HS 2507.00) and ball clay (HS 2508.40, other clays) are both kaolinitic clays, but they are bought for opposite reasons. Kaolin is bought for whiteness and particle shape. Paper-coating grades are described by brightness and by the percentage of particles finer than 2 microns: coating clays run at around 88–90 brightness, and fine calcined kaolin reaches 92–93.5 GE brightness with 85% or more below 2 microns. Calcined kaolin is fired to raise brightness and opacity for paper, paint, plastics and cable insulation; delaminated kaolin has platy particles for coating hold-out; airfloat kaolin is dry-processed. Ceramic kaolin goes into porcelain, sanitaryware and tile bodies on fired whiteness, iron and titanium, and plasticity. Ball clay is bought for plasticity and fired colour: fine-grained, highly plastic clays that bind porcelain tile and sanitaryware bodies. Moisture is stated per grade: dried powder and lump for bagged grades, slurry for some paper mills.

The 2024 export declarations put HS 2507.00 at USD 1.69 billion across the reporters in the pull, led by the USA (34.9%), the UK (13.8%), China (9.5%), Brazil (7.0%), Germany (4.5%), Belgium (4.2%), Czechia (4.2%) and India (3.3%); HS 2508.40 other clays, which carries ball clay, was USD 586 million, led by the USA (22.5%), Spain (18.9%), Germany (12.7%) and India (9.3%). About 1.6 million tons of US kaolin is exported a year, mainly for paper coating and filler, ceramics and paint, plastics and rubber extenders. In the UK, Imerys produces around one million tonnes of kaolin a year in Cornwall and Sibelco works ball clay in Devon. Ukraine was the dominant ball-clay exporter, about 5 million tonnes in 2019, supplying Italian and Spanish tile makers from deposits concentrated in Donetsk region; Ukrainian clay is offered only from government-controlled territory with the quarry named on the certificate of origin. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers kaolin and ball clay between producers, processors and trader allocations on one side and paper mills, ceramic tile, sanitaryware and tableware plants, paint, plastics, rubber and cable makers on the other, in 25 kg bags and 1–1.5 MT jumbo bags in containers, bulk vessel lots for ceramic clays, or slurry where a mill is equipped, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Offers stand against an SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek analysis of Al₂O₃, SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, TiO₂, brightness, particle size and moisture, with fired-colour and plasticity results for ceramic clays, a certificate of origin and a safety data sheet. Price is negotiated per grade and cargo. Send the grade, the brightness and particle-size targets and the discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

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Excluded origins are not offered, including product re-exported, blended or re-processed through a third country. Every lot moves with a certificate of origin naming the producing plant, mine or grower country, and nothing is quoted before the seller and loading point are known.