(May 8, 2026) With the opening of the peak season for new energy support, daily chemical beauty, industrial coatings and silicone products industries, the domestic silica market ushered in a cycle of concentrated demand release, changing the pattern of overcapacity in previous years, and presenting a new market situation of booming production and sales and structural shortages.
Different from the previous industry focus on capacity expansion and environmental protection rectification, this year's core market logic has completely shifted to downstream applications to force product upgrades. The competition in the traditional ordinary precipitation silica market tends to be fierce, profit margins are continuously compressed by raw materials and logistics costs, and the survival pressure of small and medium-sized manufacturers is intensified. High-end silica after hydrophobic modification and nano ultrafine treatment has become a rigid raw material for major downstream enterprises with its excellent properties such as thickening, thixotropy, reinforcement, and anti-settlement.
In the field of daily chemicals, the purity and fineness requirements of silica for beauty powders, skin care products, and toothpaste frictions continue to increase, driving the continuous production of food-grade and cosmetic silica orders. In terms of new energy, the demand for lithium battery separators, electrolyte additives, and silicone rubber seals has risen, driving the fumed silica market to rise steadily; In the coating and anti-corrosion industry, silica, as a matting agent and rheological additive, has become an indispensable core auxiliary material for water-based coatings and industrial anti-corrosion paints.
In the second quarter of 2026, domestic modified silica export orders to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe increased significantly month-on-month, and overseas customers gradually shifted from purchasing low-end ordinary categories to fixed-point purchases of domestic high-end modified models.
According to the analysis of industry insiders, the follow-up silica industry will show a differentiated pattern of gradually clearing low-end production capacity and rising volume and price of high-end categories.
