# Talc: Trading

How whiteness, purity and fineness set the price

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/trading/

What this tab covers How and where it is bought and sold: who buys and sells, exchanges and benchmarks, contract types, the big trading houses and how prices are discovered.

Talc is not exchange-traded. It is sold by grade under contracts between millers and industrial buyers, with prices set by whiteness, purity and fineness. Trade journals and price-reporting agencies publish indicative ranges. Humphreys records that Rio Tinto sold its talc business among non-core assets to cut debt after buying Alcan (pdf p. 240). Branded grades and long qualification of fillers in plastics and paper make customer relationships sticky.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Plastics compounders and car parts makers in Germany, Japan, the US, Mexico and China
- Paint and coatings makers
- Paper mills and ceramic plants
- Germany (12%), US (11%) and Japan (9%) led world import value in 2024 (UN Comtrade)

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- China (16% of world export value in 2024), US (12%), France (11%), Netherlands (10%), Pakistan (10%) and Italy (8%) (UN Comtrade)
- India exports to Southeast Asia, the Gulf and Africa (IBM 2015)

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **None** | No exchange-traded contract | Bilateral sales by grade |

#### Contract types

- Annual supply contracts by grade (whiteness, particle size, purity)
- Spot container sales of Indian, Pakistani and Chinese powder

#### Top trading houses

- Mostly direct sales by producers; distributors serve smaller users

#### How prices are discovered

- USGS US milled talc unit value
- Fastmarkets Industrial Minerals talc prices (paid)
- Trade unit values from UN Comtrade and DGCIS

## Other sections

- [Summary](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/index.md)
- [Overview](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/overview/index.md)
- [Correlation](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/correlation/index.md)
- [Extraction](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/extraction/index.md)
- [Production](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/production/index.md)
- [Stocks](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/stocks/index.md)
- [Cycles](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/cycles/index.md)
- [Movement](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/movement/index.md)
- [Criticality](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/criticality/index.md)
- [Characteristics](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/characteristics/index.md)
- [Emissions](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/emissions/index.md)
- [Relationships](https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/talc/links/index.md)