Iron oxide pigments: Production
Why India's ochre dwarfs every other country's
Why India's ochre dwarfs every other country's What this tab covers Who produces it and how much: world output over recent years, the top producing countries with their shares, USGS world figures for 2024 and 2025, and the largest producing companies globally and in India.USGS cannot give a world total because many countries do not report. Among reporting countries, India dwarfs the rest with about 3.4 million t of ochre in 2025. Germany follows with 280,000 t of natural and synthetic pigment. Pakistan (80,000 t), Italy (32,000 t), Cyprus (22,000 t), Spain and France are smaller. The list understates China, a large synthetic producer that is not quantified but supplied 44% of US imports in 2021-24. Concentration therefore depends on whether you count crude ochre or finished synthetic pigment.
No global production series is published for this commodity in the datasets used.
Largest producers by company, global
- LANXESS: 400 kt/yr iron oxide pigment capacity (planned) (2019)
- US processors (five companies, eight operations): 32 kt sold or used (2025)
Largest producers by company, India
India is the largest reported producer of crude ocher, about 3.4 Mt in 2025 with 37 Mt of reserves (USGS). No Indian company volumes were found for natural or synthetic pigment.