Turkey, China, and Italy are the 3 top Bentonite suppliers among the countries. According to the 2018 international trade stat, the USA, with more than 192$ million, was the largest Bentonite Supplier, with India in second place with just 83$ million worth of Bentonite exports.
Bentonites of various types exist in different geographical locations throughout the world, are mined from different depths, and are obtained in different levels of purity, particle size, adsorption capacity, and swelling ability (Marchal et al., 1995). Bentonite is an absorbent natural smectite clay which has a colloidal structure in water.
According to Comtrade, in 2018, the USA was the number-one Bentonite supplier in the world, exporting $ 192.73 M for 845.4 MT of Bentonite. After the USA, India exported $ 83.2 M, but for a much higher quantity, 1.7 million Ton!
The Bentonite price difference is usually due to the Bentonite Chemical and Physical Characteristics in different geographical locations, which also affects its applications. Other Bentonite Suppliers after the USA and India are as follows:
Country | Qty (MT) | Ave. Unit Price ($) | Trade Value ($) |
Turkey | 693,721 | 107 | 74,319,593 |
China | 239,410 | 271 | 64,950,641 |
Italy | 269,928 | 178 | 47,989,844 |
Netherlands | 144,568 | 320 | 46,268,993 |
United Kingdom | 31,790 | 908 | 28,858,462 |
Germany | 76,187 | 354 | 26,995,849 |
Czechia | 164,149 | 143 | 23,457,678 |
Spain | 71,279 | 256 | 18,245,547 |
Slovakia | 210,121 | 64 | 13,354,783 |
Poland | 37,756 | 322 | 12,148,396 |
Belgium | 48,851 | 226 | 11,026,226 |
Argentina | 55,349 | 180 | 9,989,611 |
Denmark | 33,512 | 273 | 9,155,069 |
In the above picture from resourcetrade.earth, the trade flow of Bentonite in 2018 is shown.
Based on the information provided by the above website as well as Comtrade, the total value of traded Bentonite was $ 840 million in 2018. The largest trade flows of Bentonite in 2018 were as follows:
According to U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, February 2019, Global reserves are large, but country-specific data are not available:
Country | 2017 | 2018e |
China | 5600 | 5590 |
United States | e4300 | 3700 |
Turkey | 3140 | 3090 |
Greece | 1100 | 1200 |
India | 800 | 810 |
Mexico | 470 | 460 |
Iran | 436 | 440 |
Brazil | 405 | 400 |
Germany | 395 | 390 |
Czechia | 369 | 370 |
Ukraine | 210 | 200 |
Spain | 113 | 100 |
Ukraine | 210 | 200 |
United Kingdom | – | – |
Senegal | – | – |
Other Countries | 3300 | 3800 |
World Total | 20600 | 21000 |
We have listed nine companies that supply Bentonite. Ashapura Group (India), CIMBAR PERFORMANCE MINERALS (USA), Mineral Technologies (USA), Imerys (France), and Kemira (Finland) are some of the top suppliers of Bentonite. We have linked each Bentonite supplier company name to its website.
Sources: