Caustic magnesia: Giving it the water treatment

Market conditions are not particularly good for caustic calcined magnesia producers at the moment, but they are not particularly bad either. Markets are exhibiting stability and robustness while prices are holding steady.Water treatment markets in North America are seeing dramatic growth. This apparent calm or lull is mirrored on the supply side with only a few new projects or expansions on the radar. Is this a pause for breath or maybe a market in equilibrium? The answer to that depends on who you are and where you operate. The high purity market has slimmed down to what seems a workable concentration spread throughout the world. Their competitive flame is kept aglow by the desire to develop new markets for high value products, and producers that formally produced for refractory applications adding the "non-" prefix to their marketing material. These are expanding their presence in medium grade markets and snapping at the heels of higher grade markers.