The Asian Soda Ash market Follows an Upward Price Trajectory Throughout January 2023

The Soda Ash market remained healthy in January 2023, with uplifting demand from the downstream sector and import pressure from China with the opening of the Chinese market after the end of the spring holidays in the country. Meanwhile, Indian manufacturers such as Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited (GHCL) and Tata Chemicals scheduled and announced to expand the production capacities in the country amid high offtakes in the regional market.

In India, the increasing downstream glass industry demand impacted the pricing dynamics of Soda Ash and led the market players to expand manufacturing capacities since Q3 of 2022. As per the latest insights, Soda Ash producers witnessed gearing up to add accumulative capacities in the coming years with escalating domestic offers in the solar glass, lithium batteries, and detergent manufacturing industries. The second-largest Soda Ash producer, GHCL, is coming up with a greenfield expansion of the Soda Ash plant in Mandvi Taluka of Kutch (Gujarat), and project construction is expected to be commissioned by the end of 2025 after environmental clearances. Presently GHCL has an annual production capacity of 975 thousand MTPA of Soda Ash. Additionally, Tata Chemicals announced the brownfield expansion of the Dwarka plant with an estimated expense of INR 1,042 crore, and Tata chemicals hold a global capacity of 5.5 million per annum of Soda Ash.

The Soda Ash followed an upward price rally in the Chinese market in January 2023, backed by the limited availability of inventories and elevating downstream demand in the glass industry. After the end of the spring festival, domestic offers increased slowly, and supply was limited from India. The purchasing amongst the buyers was firm at the termination of January 2023.

As per the ChemAnalyst anticipation, the Soda Ash price is expected to rise in February 2023 in the APAC region, with an increase in domestic and international inquiries for the product in the glass industry. Moreover, the product market is expected to be pushed northward by the downstream industries such as electric vehicles and enhanced focus on green energy transition this year in India.