Mid-August has arrived, and China’s chemical market is still in the traditional summer off-season. Downstream purchasing momentum has generally slowed for rubber goods, building waterproof materials, industrial coatings and various rubber-plastic auxiliary materials. The vast majority of manufacturers adhere to a sound business strategy of purchasing on demand and exercising strict control over total inventory. In previous hot summers, the silica industry commonly slashed prices to clear stock, driving a continuous downturn in overall market prices. In 2026, however, cyclical swings across the industry have weakened markedly, the divide between peak and off seasons has grown increasingly indistinct, and a tiered, differentiated operational landscape has taken firm shape. Supply and demand for precipitated silica for general applications including commercial vehicle tires, ordinary rubber hoses and transmission belts are largely balanced, with prices fluctuating mildly. High-end fumed silica applied to photovoltaic encapsulants, protective coatings for lithium battery separators, as well as sealing and shock-absorbing components for precision electronics remains in tight spot supply, with selling prices holding steady and edging slightly higher. Low-carbon silica produced via the rice husk ash agricultural and forestry solid waste recycling process has gained smooth access to mainstream procurement markets in Europe and America backed by complete, standardized carbon footprint certification, bringing in successive long-term overseas cooperation orders and steadily upgrading the overall structure of foreign trade. Industrial competition has long moved past the elementary stage defined solely by production volume rivalry, evolving into a comprehensive contest centered on low-carbon production qualifications, customized formula tuning and multi-scenario adaptation capabilities.
Based on first-hand field survey data collected on August 15 and monitoring statistics from major chemical information platforms, the average factory price of mainstream industrial-grade precipitated silica nationwide holds firm at 6,000 CNY per ton. The overall fluctuation range stayed below 2% in early August amid smooth and orderly market movement, while price gaps between different grades continue to widen. Conventional rubber-reinforcing silica is quoted between 5,760 and 6,210 CNY per ton, primarily supplied to traditional markets such as truck tires, sealing gaskets and conveyor belts marked by sluggish trading and limited upward momentum. Demand for highly dispersible modified silica tailored for quiet, low rolling-resistance new energy vehicle tires has risen steadily, lifting its market quotation to 6,330–6,710 CNY per ton. High-purity precipitated silica exclusively formulated for food anti-caking agents, pharmaceutical excipients and toothpaste abrasives is unaffected by seasonal cycles, stabilizing at roughly 6,500 CNY per ton. Price tiers for fumed silica are clearly demarcated: domestic general hydrophobic fumed silica ranges from 20.1 to 23.5 CNY per kilogram; ultra-fine modified fumed silica dedicated to photovoltaic and energy storage adhesives is in scarce supply at 25.2–28.2 CNY per kilogram; imported ultra-high-purity electronic-grade fumed silica still dominates the high-end niche market priced between 28.8 and 39 CNY per kilogram, while domestic substitution of premium products advances at a steady pace.
Divergent operating rates stand out prominently on the supply side, with the industry-wide average operating rate maintained between 75% and 80%. Leading silicon material enterprises hold long-term framework orders for new energy adhesives, eco-friendly tires, premium daily chemicals and low-carbon export products, running production lines at full capacity around the clock and keeping finished goods inventory persistently low. Constrained by insufficient sporadic orders and narrow profit margins from processing, small and medium-sized manufacturers voluntarily cut production loads, scheduling production line inspections and maintenance of environmental treatment equipment during the off-season to avoid unprofitable price competition, effectively easing the industry-wide overcapacity pressure for low-end silica. Sustained high temperatures have further widened production cost disparities between northern and southern manufacturing hubs. Factories in time-honored industrial clusters across East and South China must run cooling equipment nonstop. Energy consumption for the harmless disposal of wastewater and waste gas, alongside operation and maintenance fees for online environmental monitoring systems, have climbed concurrently, pushing up rigid production costs and drastically compressing room for price cuts on low-end products. Northern production bases enjoy cool, spacious working conditions in summer. Local procurement of quartz sand and sodium silicate slashes logistics costs, while energy consumption for cooling and three-waste treatment is lower, delivering remarkable comprehensive cost advantages. Recently, numerous inland traders have shifted their purchasing focus northward, lifting the circulation share of northern supplies and quietly reshaping regional supply-demand patterns. Industry researchers note that structural overcapacity for conventional ore-based general silica has not been fully resolved. Demand growth for tires matched with traditional fuel vehicles remains sluggish, with market sentiment barely sustained by the tire replacement market, making a sustained upward trend for low-end varieties unattainable. Although homogeneous price competition has cooled considerably, it has not faded entirely.
Emerging non-tire application segments boast robust growth momentum, having outpaced the traditional rubber sector in market size and evolved into the core engine driving overall expansion of the silica industry. The third quarter marks a concentrated delivery window for China’s photovoltaic industry, as residential distributed photovoltaic power stations and large-scale ground-mounted energy storage stations are completed and commissioned in batches. Silicone sealants for photovoltaic encapsulation enjoy booming production and sales. As a vital anti-settling, thickening and UV-resistant filler within adhesive systems, hydrophobic nano fumed silica has had full-quarter purchase volumes locked in advance by downstream adhesive manufacturers, resulting in tight spot inventory and extended mainstream delivery cycles of approximately two and a half months. Power and energy storage battery manufacturers keep upgrading safety coating technologies for separators. High-purity ultra-fine silica markedly improves separators’ heat resistance and puncture strength, with its application proportion rising year on year. Leading domestic material suppliers have pushed production schedules back to mid-October amid mounting order fulfillment pressure. As new energy vehicle market penetration rises annually, vehicles carry heavier curb weights and deliver stronger instantaneous starting torque, prompting stricter industry standards for tire noise reduction and rolling resistance. Tire formulas contain 15% to 22% more highly dispersible silica than those used for fuel vehicles, supporting steady demand release for modified precipitated silica and rendering it one of the few steadily growing products within the tire sector. Beyond that, niche segments including fine daily chemicals and pharmaceutical excipients demonstrate resilient demand: soothing and thickening additives for personal care products, toothpaste abrasives and tablet anti-caking agents maintain stable annual demand unaffected by seasonal fluctuations. Ultra-high-purity fumed silica serves as the foundational raw material for internal sealing, shock absorption and thermal buffering components inside wireless earbuds, smart bracelets and miniature sensors. These high-end niche fields far outpace traditional industrial markets in growth rate, continuously expanding the overall application scope of silica.
Foreign trade has sustained its favorable upward trend of rising volume and price, with export destinations becoming increasingly diversified, which has effectively offset industry shocks brought by the implementation of the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Customs import and export data for the first half of the year shows that China exported 769,000 tons of silica from January to June 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 11.9%; total export value reached USD 442 million, up 21.15% year on year alongside rising average export prices. Imports totaled merely 40,000 tons, down 8.95% year on year as domestic substitution of high-end products accelerates. Following the routine collection of EU carbon tariffs, silica manufactured via the traditional quartz sand and sulfuric acid process carries a high carbon footprint, drastically inflating export tariff expenses. Small and medium-sized factories lacking the conditions for low-carbon transformation and unable to produce complete carbon emission ledgers have gradually withdrawn from the European market. The rice husk ash recycling process, refined by domestic leading enterprises through more than a decade of research and development, has ushered in fruitful development opportunities. Replacing mineral quartz sand with agricultural waste rice husk ash cuts overall production carbon emissions by over 60% compared with conventional techniques, and certain products achieve carbon negativity. Having successfully obtained EU green raw material certification, these products can not only evade steep carbon tariffs upon export but also secure a green premium of 8% to 15%, with order growth vastly outstripping that of standard industrial-grade silica.
Currently, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa constitute the primary overseas markets for China’s mid-to-low-end silica. Benefiting from zero-tariff incentives under the RCEP free trade agreement, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand have continued to expand their rubber goods, construction sealant and daily chemical industries, absorbing large volumes of domestic general precipitated silica. Nations across the Middle East are vigorously advancing urban infrastructure and oil & gas supporting projects, triggering explosive demand for construction sealing materials and industrial rubber fittings, with import volumes surging more than 30% year on year in the first half of the year. Light industries in Central Asian countries develop steadily, generating moderate demand for basic silica fillers. Multiple industry leaders are accelerating global capacity deployment by building fine processing and packaging bases in Southeast Asia. Domestic production facilities undertake core technical procedures including raw material purification and surface modification, while overseas bases complete packaging and delivery in compliance with local trade regulations to circumvent carbon tariffs and various trade barriers, consolidating overseas market share.
Low-carbon closed-loop circular production models and customized formula research and development capabilities have become the pivotal dividing line reshuffling the industry, with the phase-out rate of high-energy-consuming, high-polluting backward and inefficient capacity accelerating continuously. The conventional production method that produces water glass via high-temperature melting followed by sulfuric acid acidification consumes vast quantities of non-renewable quartz mineral resources, generates more than 4 tons of carbon emissions per ton of finished product, and yields massive volumes of intractable high-salinity wastewater. Annual environmental operation expenses keep climbing, steadily squeezing corporate profit margins. Today, innovative technologies including rice husk ash resource utilization and carbon dioxide carbonization have achieved comprehensive large-scale mass production. Silicon elements are extracted from rice husk ash; waste incineration heat is recovered to supply factory production heating; carbon dioxide replaces sulfuric acid for acidification; and production byproducts are recyclable, fundamentally resolving the challenge of high-salinity wastewater disposal from the source. This production system consumes agricultural and forestry solid waste, eliminates air pollution caused by open-air burning of rice husks in farmlands, drastically reduces production energy consumption and carbon emissions, and delivers finished products with purity and dispersibility well suited to the stringent requirements of premium daily chemicals and green tires. Many leading enterprises have constructed a blockchain-based full-process carbon tracing system that comprehensively records carbon emission data covering raw material procurement, production processing and finished goods delivery, securing International Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and granting them distinct advantages for overseas brand supply chain access and bidding for large-scale engineering projects. In contrast, small workshops face capital shortages that prevent environmental equipment upgrades and carbon accounting system establishment, coupled with insufficient research strength for surface modification. They can only compete for scattered small orders via low pricing, leading to shrinking survival space and the continuous aggregation of industrial capacity toward leading enterprises. Multiple industry institutions forecast that the combined market share of the top five enterprises will see a substantial uplift by the end of 2026.
Regarding overall market trends from late August through the fourth quarter, industry analysts have unanimously issued a forecast of steady differentiation. Late August will remain within the traditional summer off-season without drastic price spikes or crashes across the market; conventional precipitated silica will consolidate amid narrow fluctuations. The tight supply of high-end fumed silica dedicated to photovoltaics, lithium batteries and electronics will persist, keeping prices firm. Upon entering September, the rubber processing, waterproof material and industrial coating industries will usher in the traditional autumn construction peak. Coupled with concentrated downstream stocking demand ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holidays, the overall silica market will witness a mild phased rebound. In the long run, the extensive development model featuring blind capacity expansion and disorderly low-price competition has drawn to a definitive end. Customized surface modification technologies, low-carbon closed-loop circular production systems and balanced layout across domestic and international markets stand as the three core factors determining corporate competitiveness. Silica will fully shed its single identity as a traditional rubber reinforcing filler and gradually evolve into a core inorganic silicon new material widely applied across six major sectors: new energy storage, automobile manufacturing, fine daily chemicals, biomedicine, precision electronics, and agricultural & forestry circular materials, advancing steady transformation and upgrading toward greenness, refinement and high-end positioning.
