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Iron treatment products like silicon carbide and other carbon raisers also have fallen victim to the paradox of es- calating demand and stagnant supply. “China has many of [these resourc-
es],” Muratore said. “T e Chinese real- ize they have a corner on the market, and they are driving the price up.” According to Muratore, silicon
carbide and other recarburizers (or carbon raisers) are found in abundance in China and only sporadically in the U.S. Plus, the country is now a major consumer of the additives in a variety of applications, where it was recently only a minor player. “When you are making iron cast-
ings, you are almost always buying recarburizer,” he said. “And everything from the high end, totally graphitic material to the low end stuff like coke breeze is in higher demand.” As a result, the prices have been driven up. Currently, only one domestic source
of silicon carbide exists, though a num- ber of other non-Chinese providers are on the market, as well. Nevertheless, the Asian giant maintains a strict mea- sure of control over the material. “Other sources were always there,
but they could not compete with China,” said Sudhir Gupta, vice presi- dent of product marketing for Miller and Co. “And because there is still not an oversupply from other producers, China sets the global pricing.” An adequate supply of silicon
carbide still exists worldwide, accord- ing to a number of industry suppliers. But like so many materials, demand for silicon carbide is rising in other markets (e.g. abrasives, lubricants, solar cells and silicon wafer processing), and prices can escalate anywhere from 10- 20% during a given purchasing period. “T ere could be a shortage [in the
future], but we don’t yet see one as such,” Gupta said. “T e pricing will be the issue. It is not a normal supply and demand situation where you can buy it anytime.”
26 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | Sept/Oct 2011
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