Feldspar: Characteristics
The flux that helps glass and ceramics melt
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 31 Mt (2025e, USGS); 36.4 Mt in 2024 (World Mining Data) | India 6.0 Mt, Turkey 5.3 Mt, Iran 3.9 Mt, China 3.7 Mt, Italy 2.2 Mt and Thailand 1.9 Mt in 2025. The two sources differ in coverage of crude versus marketable output. | USGS MCS 2026; World Mining Data 2026 |
| Inventory and stock levels | not published; no exchange or strategic stocks | Stocks are mine and port stockpiles and mill silos; buyers in Morbi, Castellon (Spain) and Sassuolo (Italy) keep working stocks of days to weeks. The US has no government stockpile. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | No producer reports utilisation. Volumes follow tile and glass output: India's tile output reached 2,452 million sq m in 2025, and US feldspar output was steady at 430,000-460,000 t a year in 2021-2025. | USGS MCS 2026; content_v2 (CARE Ratings, MECS) |
| Geographic and producer concentration | India about 19%, top-3 (India, Turkey, Iran) about 49%, HHI about 1,100 (USGS 2025); WMD HHI 1,220 (2024); Turkey 32% of EU-relevant global supply | Supply is fragmented by country but trade is concentrated: Turkey held 41.4% of world export value in 2024, and the EU sources 51% of its feldspar from Turkey. Company shares are not published. | USGS MCS 2026; World Mining Data 2026; EU CRM 2023; UN Comtrade 2024 |
| Supply elasticity | moderate: new quarries and mills in about 1-3 years | Deposits are large and widespread, so the constraint is permits and logistics, not geology. Low-iron ceramic grades from flotation plants are less elastic than crude feldspar. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | not published | No named large projects found. Growth comes from incremental quarry expansion in Turkey and India and from glass packaging demand (USGS 2026). | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Logistics and export flows | world export value $629 million in 2024; Turkey 41.4%, South Africa 14.6%, India 10.4%; Italy (28.4%) and Spain (18.6%) the top importers | Bulk vessels move sodium feldspar from Turkish Aegean ports (Gulluk) to Castellon and northern Italy. In India most moves by truck from Rajasthan and Gujarat to Morbi. At about $110/t, freight limits reach. | UN Comtrade 2024; USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Feldspar is a flux. It lowers the melting temperature of glass batches and ceramic bodies and supplies alumina and alkalis. Buyers pay for consistent alkali content, low iron and titanium for whiteness, and the right grind. Small chemistry shifts change kiln firing and glass colour, so specification control matters more than headline purity.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alkali content (Na2O + K2O) | Sodium feldspar (albite) about 10-11% Na2O; potash feldspar about 10-13% K2O (indicative) | Sets fluxing power; sodium grades suit tiles, potash grades suit porcelain and some glass | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| Iron oxide (Fe2O3) | about 0.1% or less for ceramics and tableware; under about 0.1% for glass (indicative) | Iron colours glass and fired bodies; low-iron grades command a premium | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| Titanium oxide (TiO2) | typically under about 0.05-0.3% depending on grade (indicative) | Affects whiteness of porcelain tiles | Industry specifications (indicative) |
| Alumina (Al2O3) | about 18-20% | Adds strength and chemical durability to glass and ceramics | Mineral stoichiometry (indicative) |
| Particle size | about 20 mesh for glass; 200 mesh or finer for ceramics and fillers | Matches melting behaviour and slurry rheology | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Melting behaviour | albite melts at about 1,100-1,120 C; potash feldspar melts incongruently near 1,150 C | Lets tile kilns and glass furnaces run cooler, saving fuel | Standard mineral data (indicative) |