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This report provides a general description of explosives products, both military
and industrial. It reviews expected trends in major global markets for industrial
explosives and blasting agents and highlights the basic characteristics of supply.
The emphasis is on ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO), by far the most popular
blasting agent in use today. The report concentrates on the principal industrial
applications of explosives worldwide and relies on specific information regarding
powder factors used in metallic and nonmetallic mines, coal operations and miscellaneous
other applications. This information is supplemented with actual data on explosives
consumption from various government organizations, as well as from numerous
producers. Coverage of certain countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and
Western Europe is less detailed because there are no established and readily
available data for these regions.
The total world market for industrial explosives use by the mining industry
in 2001 is estimated at about 6.3 million metric tons. This estimate is based
on country-by-country mineral production data published by the U.S. Geological
Survey (data through 2002 or 2003 are available for certain regions). In addition
to consumption by the mining industry, a significant volume of explosives is
consumed by the construction industry and in miscellaneous applications. These
latter categories are not well documented in most countries; however, it is
roughly estimated that they represent a worldwide market for an additional 800-900
thousand metric tons of explosive materials. An average annual growth rate of
less than 1% is projected for the worldwide market to 2008. The market is driven
primarily by demand for energy and base metals, supplemented by demand for construction
materials and civil construction activities.
The major impact of future growth is expected to be on ammonium nitrate demand,
since it accounts for about 75-92% of the total industry gross weight tonnage,
depending on the region. In North America, over 90% of all industrial explosives
are based on AN, while in Japan and Europe, ammonium nitrate accounts for approximately
75% and 80% of explosives, respectively. Growth in explosives demand and in
AN demand should depend primarily on the coal market and secondarily on metallic
minerals production. Underlying this and all other projections for the explosives
markets, however, is the complex interaction of uncertain economic, political
and technical factors.
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