Bromine: Characteristics
A dense, red-brown liquid prized for its reactivity
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 430,000 t bromine content (2025e, excluding US, which is withheld); 440,000 t in 2024 | Israel 200,000 t, Jordan 110,000 t, China 90,000 t, Japan 20,000 t, India 7,000 t and Ukraine 6,000 t in 2025. Two Arkansas companies hold a large share of world capacity but output is withheld. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Inventory and stock levels | not published; no exchange or government stocks | There is no exchange and the US holds no stockpile. Elemental bromine is toxic and costly to store, so most is converted to compounds on site and stocks are held as compounds and clear brine fluids. Drilling brines are rented, reconditioned and reused, which acts as an inventory pool. One month of world output is roughly 36,000 t (derived). | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Capacity utilisation | China very low: Gulf Resources ran at about 8% in 2024; Dead Sea plants near record output | Gulf Resources (Shandong) sold 2,250 t in 2024 against 7,951 t in 2023 at about 8% utilisation after closures. Jordan reached record output in H1 2025. No global utilisation figure is published. | Gulf Resources business update, Apr 2025; USGS MCS 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | Israel about 46%, top-3 (Israel, Jordan, China) about 92%, HHI about 3,200 (2025, excluding US) | Derived from USGS 2025 output. Company concentration is higher still: ICL (Israel), Jordan Bromine Company (Albemarle and Arab Potash), Albemarle and Lanxess (Arkansas) control most non-Chinese supply. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Supply elasticity | low short-run; moderate long-run | Dead Sea bromine follows potash pond operations, and Chinese supply is capped by depleting brines and environmental closures. New brine plants take several years and need chlorine supply. Arkansas lithium-from-brine projects could add bromine-linked capacity in the late 2020s. | USGS MCS 2026; Gulf Resources 2025 |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | not published as capacity totals | Jordan reached record output in H1 2025. Arkansas Smackover brine projects for lithium share the bromine brine field and may expand brine processing. Indian expansion by Archean Chemical in the Rann of Kutch. Project CapEx figures were not found. | USGS MCS 2026; Archean annual report FY2025 |
| Logistics and export flows | elemental bromine exports $280 million in 2024 (Israel 45.3%, Jordan 17.2%); China took 61.1% of imports | At about $3/kg this is roughly 90,000-100,000 t, or about a fifth of output (derived); most bromine moves as compounds. Elemental bromine ships in lead-lined steel tanks or ISO containers under hazardous-goods rules. The Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean routes from Israel and Jordan are the main chokepoints. | UN Comtrade 2024; USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Bromine is a dense, volatile, toxic red-brown liquid. It is valued for reactivity and for the density of its salts. Purity and low water and chlorine content matter for chemical synthesis. Bromine content per molecule matters for flame retardants, and solution density matters for drilling brines. Handling is the main cost: it must ship in lined, sealed containers.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / grade | Commercial elemental bromine typically at least 99.5-99.8% Br2 | Sets suitability for pharma and agrochemical synthesis | Producer specifications (indicative) |
| Impurities | Chlorine typically below about 0.1%; water in tens of ppm; non-volatile residue limits | Chlorine and water cause side reactions and corrosion | Producer specifications (indicative) |
| Density | about 3.1 g/cm3 (liquid, 20 C) | Very dense cargo; needs specialised tanks | Standard physical data (indicative) |
| Boiling point and volatility | boils about 59 C; high vapour pressure, toxic fumes | Drives hazardous-goods shipping and on-site conversion | Standard physical data (indicative) |
| Clear brine density | CaBr2 brines up to about 1.7 g/cm3; ZnBr2/CaBr2 up to about 2.3 g/cm3 | Sets how deep and high-pressure a well the solids-free fluid can control | Oilfield fluid literature (indicative) |
| Bromine content of flame retardants | TBBPA (C15H12Br4O2) is about 59% Br by mass | Bromine loading determines flame-retardant effectiveness per kg of plastic | Stoichiometry (derived) |