# Vermiculite: Trading

From miners to regional exfoliators by contract

Source page: https://www.materialinsights.org/commodities/vermiculite/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.

There is no exchange. Concentrate is sold by grade, from coarse to micron sizes, under contracts between miners and exfoliators. Exfoliators, often regional firms, sell on to horticultural blenders and building-products makers. Prices are private; the USGS reports none, and trade publications give only indicative ranges. Exfoliated vermiculite is mostly air, so the dense concentrate is shipped and expanded near the customer. Assurance that ore is free of asbestos is a standard part of sales.

#### Where it is bought (buyers)

- Exfoliating plants in the US (12 plants, 10 companies), Europe and Asia buy crude concentrate by grade
- Horticulture blenders and building-product makers buy exfoliated vermiculite in bags
- India imported 80,000 t of HS 253010 material in 2024 (UN Comtrade)

#### Where it is sold (sellers)

- Palabora Mining Company exports South African concentrate
- US miners in South Carolina and Virginia sell to domestic exfoliators
- Brazil, Zimbabwe, Uganda and China ship smaller tonnages; Brazil and South Africa supplied 89% of US imports in 2021-24 (USGS)

#### Exchanges and benchmarks

| Venue | Contract | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| **None** | No futures or exchange contract | All trade is bilateral |

#### Contract types

- Annual or term supply contracts by size grade (for example micron, superfine, fine, medium, large)
- FOB port or delivered bulk-bag shipments
- Spot sales to smaller exfoliators and blenders

#### Top trading houses

- No major trading houses; producers sell direct or through specialist industrial-mineral distributors

#### How prices are discovered

- Bilateral negotiation by grade and purity
- Customs unit values (UN Comtrade, US Census) as the only public proxy
- No Indian exchange contract

## Other sections

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