(May 3, 2026) The current silica industry is at the intersection of three changes: the new environmental protection policy, high raw material costs, and the restructuring of downstream demand. With the implementation of tens of billions of low-carbon projects in Shandong, the surge in sulfuric acid has pushed up product prices, the demand for new energy and high-end manufacturing has exploded, and the global supply chain has been restructured, the industry has officially bid farewell to extensive growth and has fully entered a new stage of high-quality development featuring green compliance, high-end customization, and low-carbon production.
Environmental protection red lines are tightened, and the industry accelerates green reshuffle
In the second quarter of 2026, new environmental protection regulations, dual energy consumption controls, and exhaust gas and wastewater emission standards in the domestic chemical industry will be comprehensively tightened, and the silica industry will usher in a mandatory green reshuffle. The traditional sedimentation process has pain points such as large emissions, large water consumption, and large amounts of solid waste. Previously, some small and medium-sized workshop-style factories were on the edge of supervision and relied on low costs to seize the market. Currently, old production lines with high energy consumption and high pollution are being shut down and exited at an accelerated pace. Compliance, low-carbonization, and cleanliness have become the hard threshold for the survival of the industry.
At the industry policy level, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Action Plan for the High-Quality Development of Inorganic Silicon Materials" clearly requires that by 2026, the self-sufficiency rate of high-end silica will be increased to 50%, the energy consumption per unit output value will be reduced by 20%, and carbon capture technology (CCUS) and bio-based raw material substitution will be encouraged to reduce carbon emissions. Driven by policies, leading companies have increased investment in green process research and development, and recycling technologies such as carbon dioxide acidification and rice husk ash preparation have been accelerated topromote the green transformation of the industry.
The cost of raw materials has skyrocketed, and product prices continue to rise.
Since the beginning of spring 2026, the silica industry has ushered in a wave of concentrated price increases
The core driver is the sharp increase in the price of raw material sulfuric acid. Affected by multiple factors such as tight sulfur supply caused by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, centralized maintenance of domestic equipment and rigid release of demand, the price of sulfuric acid has recently surged by nearly 50%, hitting a 20-year high, directly pushing up the production cost of silica.
From mid-March to early April, silica companies in major domestic production areas such as Fujian, Shandong, and Jiangxi issued price adjustment notices intensively. The prices of the entire range of products were increased by 500 yuan/ton. Combined with a round of price adjustments in early March, the industry's cumulative increase reached 800 yuan/ton. As of early May, the mainstream quotation in the silica market remained at 6,300-7,000 yuan/ton, an increase of 12%-18% from the end of 2025. Price pressure continues to be transmitted to downstream tires, rubber, silicone rubber and other fields. Even if the price adjustment is completed, it is still difficult for the company to fully cover the cost gap, and the company is in a passive state of making up for losses.
Ten billion-level low-carbon projects are implemented and the production capacity pattern is optimized
Heavy news came from the industrial investment side. The 200,000 tons/year carbon dioxide acidification silica project (Phase I) with a total investment of 1.02 billion yuan was recently announced in the environmental protection announcement in Changle County, Shandong Province. It was invested and constructed by Zhongke Rich Hydrogen (Shandong) New Energy Co., Ltd. The project will be constructed in three phases. The first phase has an investment of 360 million yuan and covers an area of 101 acres. It will build two silica production lines, supporting warehouses, environmental protection projects and other public auxiliary facilities. After completion, it will form a production scale of 60,000 tons of silica per year.
The project adopts a low-carbon and environmentally friendly carbon dioxide acidification process and is expected to be completed and put into production in February 2027. It will further optimize the domestic silica production capacity structure and enhance the supply capacity of green products.
At the same time, overseas companies are accelerating strategic adjustments. Evonik plans to close the precipitated silica production line in Havre de Grace, Maryland, USA, in mid-2026 to focus on the high value-added product market. The global production capacity pattern continues to be restructured.
The demand structure has changed dramatically, and the high-end market has become the focus of competition
In the second quarter of 2026, the downstream demand for silica will undergo structural restructuring. The growth rate of demand in the traditional tire rubber field has slowed down, while emerging terminals such as new energy rubber compounds, electronic seals, high-end coatings, and pharmaceutical and food excipients have risen rapidly. The outbreak of the new energy automobile industry has driven a surge in demand for highly dispersible silica in green tires, lithium battery separators, silicone rubber and other fields; the coatings industry has accelerated its transformation to water-based and solvent-free, and silica, as an environmentally friendly functional powder, has become the core choice to replace traditional fillers.
Third-party statistics show that the domestic industrial silica market will exceed 8 billion yuan in 2025, of which demand in the coatings and rubber and plastic fields will account for more than 70%. The industry bids farewell to the era of extensive mass production and turns to the development of refinement and specialized customization. Leading companies have increased investment in high-end product research and development, launched highly adapted customized services, and seized market share in new energy and high-end manufacturing.
Industry Outlook: Opportunities and Challenges Coexist
Industry experts said that 2026 is a critical year for the transformation and upgrading of the silica industry. High pressure on environmental protection, high costs, and rising demand will become the long-term norm of the industry. In the short term, problems such as raw material price fluctuations, low-end overcapacity, and high-end insufficient supply will still restrict the development of the industry; in the long term, green and low-carbon technology breakthroughs, domestic substitution of high-end products, and the expansion of downstream emerging markets will bring historic development opportunities to the industry.
In the future, leading companies with technological advantages, green production capacity and high-end customization capabilities will dominate the market, while small and medium-sized enterprises with high pollution, high energy consumption and single products will gradually be eliminated by the market. Industry concentration is expected to continue to increase, pushing my country from a large silica production country to a technological power.
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