Grinding Media Market Intelligence

Industry Outlook & Drivers

Global Market Outlook on Grinding Media

• The demand for global GM is expected to grow at the rate of 3–3.5 percent from 2017 to 2019, owing to increase in mining activity, fueling the growth of GM
• The global GM major growth is expected to come from gold and non-ferrous metal segments. The gold production is expected to grow by about 7 percent during 2014–2019

• The global GM market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3-3.5 percent between 2017 and 2019, owing to the constant rise in mineral production output, coupled with the increased demand for key commodities, such as copper, gold, and iron ore
• Mining constitutes to around 80 percent of GM's end use. Strip ratio of Copper ore has been falling consistently, implying higher mining/GM demand

Global GM Drivers and Constraints

• The constant rise in commodity demand, coupled with declining ore head grades, is the key driver of GM consumption rate in the mining industry
• In South America, copper and gold head grades are expected to decline by 21 percent and 18 percent, respectively, during 2014–2024, which will drive up the GM usage in the region

Drivers

Increase in Mining Activity

• Gradual increase in mining activities in the key global markets will drive up the demand for ore processing, in turn, the demand for GM
• Global gold ore milled is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~6 percent during 2014–2019

Decline in Ore Head Grades

• Declining mineral head grades increases the amount of ore to be milled, which results in increased utilization of GM in mineral processing

Constraints

Decrease in Commodity Prices

• China accounts for around 40–50 percent of the global commodity demand
• Slowdown in the Chinese economy has adversely affected the commodity prices, thereby deteriorating the demand for GM

Slowdown in the Cement Market

• The cement industry is one of the key consumers of GM. It is largely driven by similar macroeconomic factors driving the mining market, which has negatively affected the cement industry as well
• Global cement demand is expected to slowdown, owing to China's economic slowdown

Market Driver –Commodity Price

• Prices of key commodities are the best indicators of mining activities and which, in turn, evinces the demand for GM
• In Q4 2018, from October 2018 to November 2018, apart from iron ore and copper (which is expected to increase by an average of 5–6 percent, average commodity prices for the rest are expected to decrease by an average of 3–4 percent compared to the last quarters' average

• Demand for commodities increased tremendously, as the economy recovered from the economic recession in 2009. 2010 and 2011 saw a boom in mining activity, due to high demand for raw materials

• Late 2013 and 2014 witnessed a slowdown in mining, resulting in the reduced demand for GM

• Again, 2014–2015 witnessed reduced demand; however, it is expected to uptrend in the coming years. The average commodity prices for the rest are expected to decrease by 8–9 percent in H1 2019 compared to same period in the previous year