Chinese producer Snowsky Salt is investing CN¥484M (US$68M) to expand its soda ash and salt installations in Chongqing. 

In addition to its several salt-producing facilities, Snowsky Salt Industry Group is already a substantial soda ash and salt producer at its Chongqing Xiangyu Salinization Plant. Located in Wanzhou District, Chongqing, the Chongqing facility currently has a capacity of 700ktpy of soda ash, and 700ktpy of ammonium chloride, combined with a salt production unit of 1Mtpy operated by its subsidiary, Chongqing Soter Salinization. However, its salt output is not keeping pace with demand from synthetic soda ash production and exports. In light of this, and additionally, because of Snowsky’s interest and investment in Na-ion batteries, the company is investing in the construction of additional production capacity at the Chongqing plant, with CN¥39M (US$5.5M) for 10ktpy battery-grade soda ash and CN¥445M (US$62.66M) for 600ktpy MVR (mechanical vapour recompression) salt. Snowsky Salt Industry Group is part of Hunan Light Industry & Salt Industry Group in China. 

China’s energy transformation is pushing the accelerated development of new energy sources such as Li-ion batteries, photovoltaics, wind power, and energy storage, and sodium-ion batteries are at the core of proposed new energy development paths. Soda ash is used in the production of lithium carbonate for Li-ion batteries and photovoltaics industries, which is contributing to the current momentum of the salt chemical industry as a feedstock. The investment in additional capacity is not only a key step in the company’s sodium-ion battery material industry chain, but also an important part of the company’s goal to optimise the supply chain from raw materials to end-use applications.  

China is the largest consumer of salt through its chemical industry and, thus also is a large importer of salt. With the synthetic soda ash and chloralkali industries in China showing year-on-year growth of 3%, additional salt supply must be sourced either from increased imports or local producers. It remains to be seen whether other Chinese producers are following Snowsky’s rapid response to the chemical industry growth, or will producers outside of China present as competitive alternatives should they achieve the production grades in a timely manner?