Perlite & Vermiculite (Crude Ore and Expanded)

Crude perlite ore, crude vermiculite concentrate and expanded grades for horticulture, construction and filter aids

Perlite and vermiculite share a customs heading, HS 2530.10 for the unexpanded minerals, and a trade logic: the ore is shipped dense and expanded near the customer, because the expanded product is too light to move far. Perlite is a volcanic glass of 70–75% SiO₂ and 12–15% Al₂O₃ with 3–5% combined water; heated to 850–900°C the water flashes and the grain expands 7–16 times its volume, taking a bulk density of about 1,100 kg/m³ down to 30–150 kg/m³. Crude ore is sold sized to the expander's furnace, and expanded perlite is graded by density and particle size for horticultural aggregate, lightweight plaster and insulating concrete, cryogenic insulation and filter aids. Vermiculite is a hydrated magnesium-aluminium-iron silicate that exfoliates when heated, and crude concentrate is sold by size grade: Palabora in South Africa lists Large (-8.0 +2.8 mm), Medium (-4.0 +1.4 mm), Fine (-2.0 +0.71 mm), Superfine (-1.0 +0.355 mm) and Micron (-0.71 +0.25 mm), at crude bulk densities of 700–1,050 kg/m³ and exfoliated yields from 12.0–14.5 m³ per MT for Large down to 2.0–2.5 m³ for the finest dust grade. Because the Libby, Montana vermiculite mine that closed in 1990 was contaminated with asbestiform amphibole, every vermiculite lot now carries an asbestos-free test report; Palabora's commercial grades have been tested by polarised-light microscopy to a 1 ppm detection level with no amphibole or chrysotile detected.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations put HS 2530.10 at USD 208 million across the reporters in the pull, led by Türkiye (19.9%, 542,519 MT), South Africa (19.8%, 138,559 MT), Greece (15.0%, 397,435 MT), China (11.3%), Brazil (5.2%), the United States (3.6%), Hungary (3.3%), Uganda (2.9%) and Armenia (2.6%, 107,826 MT). Türkiye, Greece and the United States are the largest crude perlite producers at roughly 1.1, 0.71 and 0.52 million MT a year, and South Africa, Brazil, the United States and China together hold about 90% of world vermiculite output, with Brazil's share rising as South Africa's falls. US consumption in the 2025 USGS summary split expanded perlite into building construction 47%, horticultural aggregate 16%, filter aids 14% and other 23%. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers perlite and vermiculite between mines, concentrators and expanders on one side and horticultural substrate makers, plaster and insulation plants, filter-aid producers, foundries and refractory works on the other, as crude ore and concentrate in bulk vessel lots or 1–1.5 MT jumbo bags and as expanded product in bags, bales and jumbo bags in containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Offers stand against a producer or SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek report giving sieve analysis, bulk density, moisture and, for perlite, expanded density or yield, with an asbestos-free report on vermiculite, a certificate of origin and a safety data sheet. Price is negotiated per lot on grade and form. Send the grade, whether crude or expanded, 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.