Lime: Characteristics
Paying for reactive calcium oxide, not just tonnes
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 420 Mt of quicklime and hydrated lime (2025e) | China made about 310 Mt, then India 17 Mt, the US 15 Mt and Russia 12 Mt. Regenerated lime at paper and water plants is excluded to avoid double counting. | USGS MCS 2026, Lime |
| Inventory and stock levels | minimal; not published | Quicklime absorbs moisture and CO2 from air, so it is made close to demand and stored only for days. There is no government stockpile in the US. Buyers hold silo stocks of a few days to weeks (indicative). | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published | USGS reports 70 US quicklime plants and 11 hydrating plants in 2025 but no capacity figure. Output was flat at 15 Mt in 2024-25 as steel demand stalled, and a California sugar kiln closed in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 73.8%, top-3 (China, India, US) 81.4%; HHI about 5,500 (listed countries, 2025e) | Highly concentrated by country because China's output dwarfs others, but lime is regional, so market power is local. In the US the five leading companies made about 80% of output (USGS). | USGS MCS 2026 (HHI derived) |
| Supply elasticity | medium: new kilns take about 2-3 years; existing kilns can add shifts quickly (indicative) | Limestone is abundant, so supply is limited by kiln capacity, fuel and carbon costs. Captive kilns at steel, sugar and paper plants follow their host plant. | USGS MCS 2026; content tile |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | modest; growth in Asia-Pacific and Latin America | Graymont's Malaysian site adds 390,000 t a year of quicklime and 70,000 t of hydrated lime. Carmeuse bought Cbb (Chile, 2025) and Caleras San Juan (Argentina, over 0.75 Mt a year). Mississippi Lime is piloting carbon capture with Fortera. | Graymont Sustainability Report 2025; Global Cement (Sep 2026) |
| Logistics and export flows | under 3% of US output traded; world export value $1.27 billion (2024) | Lime is caustic and reactive, so it moves short distances by truck and rail. Seaborne trade serves mining hubs: Indonesia for nickel, Chile for copper and lithium. Exporters are Germany (13.4%), France (12.7%) and Malaysia (5.7%). | USGS MCS 2026; Comtrade 2024 |
Material characteristics Industrial mineral
Lime is calcium oxide made by burning limestone. What buyers pay for is reactive CaO: how much there is, how fast it reacts with water or acid, and how few impurities it carries. Steelmakers want low sulfur and silica. Chemical and water users care about reactivity and fineness. Residual CO2 shows under-burning, and over-burning makes lime slow to react.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available CaO + MgO | EN 459-1 classes CL 90, CL 80 and CL 70 require at least 90%, 80% and 70% CaO+MgO | Sets how much useful alkali a buyer gets per tonne and which class it can be sold as | EN 459-1 (building lime) |
| Reactivity | Measured by slaking temperature rise (EN 459-2, ASTM C110); soft-burnt lime reacts in minutes | Fast lime forms steel slag quickly and saves scrubber reagent | EN 459-2; ASTM C110 |
| Residual CO2 (loss on ignition) | CL 90 allows at most 4% CO2 | High CO2 means under-burnt core and less active lime | EN 459-1 |
| Sulfur and silica | Steel grade typically S under about 0.05% and SiO2 under about 2% (indicative) | Silica consumes lime as slag and sulfur goes back into the steel | Industry specifications (indicative); Smil (2016) |
| MgO content (dolomitic lime) | Dolomitic lime contains about 35-40% MgO (indicative) | Protects furnace refractory linings | Industry norm (indicative); USGS |
| Particle size | Lump 10-80 mm for furnaces; ground or hydrated under 90 microns for chemical and water use (indicative) | Matches the feeding system and reaction speed | Industry norms (indicative) |
| Heat of hydration | about 1.16 GJ per t CaO | Hydrators must remove this heat; quicklime can ignite combustibles if wetted | Chemistry (65 kJ/mol) |