CMC & Cellulose Ethers (Detergent, Food & Drilling-Grade CMC and HPMC)

Sodium CMC in technical, purified and drilling grades, and HPMC for construction, pharma and food

Carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) is cellulose activated with sodium hydroxide and reacted with chloroacetic acid, and the raw product is about 60% CMC and 40% salts, sodium chloride and sodium glycolate. Sold as it is, that is technical CMC for detergents, where it works as a soil-suspension polymer that deposits on cotton and other cellulosic fabrics. Purified to remove the salts, it becomes food and pharmaceutical CMC, E466; in the USA, sodium CMC is generally recognised as safe under 21 CFR 182.1745 at not less than 99.5% on a dry basis, no more than 0.95 carboxymethyl groups per anhydroglucose unit and a minimum viscosity of 25 centipoises in a 2% solution at 25 °C. Drilling grades are a third trade: CMC is added to drilling fluids mainly for fluid-loss control and viscosity, in low- and high-viscosity grades that both have API specifications, with a degree of substitution around 0.80 to 0.96 and up to 20% sodium chloride in some grades, while polyanionic cellulose (PAC) is the premium relative with higher substitution and usually less salt. CMC and its salts are HS 3912.31. Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC, hypromellose) is declared with methylcellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose and the other cellulose ethers under HS 3912.39. In construction it is the rheology modifier and water-retention agent of tile adhesives and cement renders; in pharmaceuticals it is an excipient in tablets and capsules, a controlled-release agent and a vegetarian substitute for gelatin; and in food it is E464, with 21 CFR 172.874 permitting HPMC that meets the National Formulary as an emulsifier, film former, protective colloid, stabiliser, suspending agent or thickener. HPMC grades are bought on viscosity, given as a mean or a range, and on methoxy and hydroxypropoxy substitution.

UN Comtrade 2024 export declarations under HS 3912.31 total about USD 1.05 billion and 321,000 MT across 89 reporters: China USD 280 million and 118,200 MT, Finland USD 148 million and 49,000 MT, France USD 77 million, Germany USD 74 million, Türkiye USD 74 million and 51,800 MT, the Netherlands USD 70 million, Japan USD 43 million, the USA USD 36 million and India USD 15 million. HS 3912.39 totals about USD 2.98 billion and 499,000 MT: Germany USD 749 million and 114,900 MT, China USD 510 million and 180,200 MT, the USA USD 500 million, Korea USD 380 million and 69,500 MT, Japan USD 219 million, Belgium USD 217 million, the Netherlands USD 125 million and Sweden USD 116 million. Those are declared export values, not offers. The buyer is a detergent plant, a food or pharmaceutical manufacturer, a drilling-fluid company, a dry-mix mortar and tile-adhesive producer, or a distributor. CBIL is a commodity brokerage company and brokers technical, purified and drilling-grade CMC and construction, food and pharmaceutical HPMC from producers and their offtake traders in China, Finland, Türkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Korea, the USA, Japan, Belgium, Sweden and India, against the producer's certificate of analysis for purity, degree of substitution and viscosity, the safety data sheet, a certificate of origin, a REACH statement for EU imports, the food-additive or pharmacopoeia specification the grade is sold to, and halal and kosher certificates where the food or pharmaceutical market requires them. Powders move in 25 kg bags in containers on FOB, CFR and CIF terms, priced per MT on grade, pack and origin; minimum quantities are confirmed per product and pack, and the duty at destination is checked for the route before an origin is fixed. Send the product, grade and standard, viscosity, purity, pack, monthly volume and discharge port, and the enquiry is screened and worked against it.

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.