Talc (Paint, Ceramic, Paper, Polymer & Cosmetic Grades)

Lump and micronised talc by brightness, particle size and asbestos-free certification

Talc, hydrous magnesium silicate under HS 2526 (2526.10 lump, 2526.20 crushed or powdered), is the softest mineral on the Mohs scale at 1 and is bought for softness, whiteness, platy shape and chemical inertness. ISO 3262 sets quality grades A to D on minimum talc content (50–95%), loss on ignition and HCl-soluble matter, and on top of that each end use adds its own numbers: brightness and particle size for paint and paper fillers, lamellarity and top cut for polymer compounding, where talc is compounded at roughly 0.5–40% by weight to raise stiffness and heat resistance, fired colour and shrinkage for ceramic bodies and glazes, and heavy-metal and microbiological limits for cosmetic and pharmaceutical grades. Because talc deposits can sit next to asbestiform minerals, every cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food-contact lot carries an asbestos test report from an ISO 17025 laboratory by transmission electron microscopy or polarised-light microscopy, and industrial buyers increasingly ask for the same. The regulatory picture is moving: on 9 July 2025 ECHA's Risk Assessment Committee issued a final opinion recommending talc be classified as a Category 1B carcinogen and STOT RE 1 under the EU CLP Regulation, which, once adopted, would trigger the automatic cosmetic prohibition under Article 15 of Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 unless an exemption is granted. Industrial talc is unaffected by that route but will carry the new labelling.

USGS reports Pakistan as the ninth-ranked producer of talc and related materials in 2024 at an estimated 230,000 MT, about 3.1% of world output, from deposits across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Sherwan in Hazara, Swat, Jamrud, Kurram and Landi Kotal), Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan; Pakistan was the largest source of US talc imports in 2020–23 at 51%, falling to about 33% in 2023. UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations for lump talc under HS 2526.10 put the trade at USD 106 million across the reporters in the pull, led by the United States (32.1%), India (20.9%, 124,254 MT), China (19.8%, 100,690 MT), Pakistan (8.6%, 50,061 MT), Australia (8.2%) and France (4.5%). China is the largest producer overall, with Brazil, India, the United States, France, Finland and Italy the other established sources. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers talc between miners, millers and trader allocations on one side and plastics compounders, paint, paper, ceramic, cosmetic and pharmaceutical plants on the other, as lumps in bulk or jumbo bags and as powder in 25 kg bags and 1–1.5 MT jumbo bags in containers, on FOB, CFR and CIF terms. Offers stand against an SGS, Bureau Veritas or Intertek analysis of talc content, brightness, particle-size distribution or D50, loss on ignition, Fe₂O₃ and CaO, an asbestos report where the grade requires it, a certificate of origin and a safety data sheet. Price is negotiated per lot on grade, fineness and origin. Send the application, the brightness and top cut required 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.