Fluorspar Market Size

Fluorspar Market Size was estimated over USD 2 billion in 2016 and will exhibit growth by a CAGR of over 4% up to 2024.

The global fluorspar market will witness steady gains during the forecast period owing to the products usage as a raw material in the production of hydrofluoric acid, which is a precursor to almost all fluorine compounds. Fluorspar usage in the production of steel and aluminum will also be a major factor behind its market growth. The product, also commonly known as fluorite, is the mineral form of calcium fluoride. Rising fluorochemicals demand from a range of end-user industries along with increasing production of aluminum and steel will propel the global fluorspar market growth during the forecast period.

The majority of the hydrofluoric acid is produced by treatment of fluorspar with concentrated sulfuric acid. Hydrofluoric acid has a wide range of applications such as in mining, industrial chemistry, refining, silicon chip manufacturing, cleaning, glass finishing, etc. Hydrofluoric acid is used as a catalyst in oil refining process. It is also used in the production of organofluorine compounds as well as other fluorine-based chemicals. These fluorine compounds are extensively used as refrigerants and in air conditioning. These factors will boost hydrofluoric acid demand in the coming years which will in turn propel the fluorspar market growth in the forecast period.

The environmental concerns related to fluorite mining, which is mostly carried out using the blasting process, may hinder the fluorspar market growth during the forecast period. Air and ground vibrations from the blasting process is an undesirable phenomenon and other mining methods were introduced to reduce the instances of blasting during fluorspar mining. Other factors that may hinder the industry growth are the poisonous nature of fluorine gas and high corrosivity of hydrofluoric acid.