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SODA ASH

(Data in thousand metric tons unless otherwise noted)

Domestic Production and Use: The total value of domestic soda ash (sodium carbonate) produced in 2010 was 

estimated to be about $1.3 billion.1 The U.S. soda ash industry comprised four companies in Wyoming operating five 

plants, one company in California with one plant, and one company with one mothballed plant in Colorado that owns 

one of the Wyoming plants. The five producers have a combined annual nameplate capacity of 14.5 million tons. Salt, 

sodium sulfate, and borax were produced as coproducts of sodium carbonate production in California. Sodium 

bicarbonate, sodium sulfite, and chemical caustic soda were manufactured as coproducts at several of the Wyoming 

soda ash plants. Sodium bicarbonate was produced at the Colorado operation using soda ash feedstock shipped 

from the company’s Wyoming facility.

Based on final 2009 reported data, the estimated 2010 distribution of soda ash by end use was glass, 46%; 

chemicals, 29%; soap and detergents, 10%; distributors, 6%; flue gas desulfurization and miscellaneous uses, 3% 

each; and, pulp and paper, 2%; and water treatment,1%.

Salient Statistics—United States: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010e

Production2 11,000 11,100 11,300 9,310 10,000

Imports for consumption 7 9 13 6 30

Exports 4,820 5,130 5,370 4,410 5,000

Consumption:

 Reported 6,110 5,940 5,700 5,010 5,000

 Apparent 6,100 6,030 5,860 4,950 5,000

Price:

 Quoted, yearend, soda ash, dense, bulk:

 F.o.b. Green River, WY, dollars per short ton 155.00 155.00 260.00 260.00 260.00

 F.o.b. Searles Valley, CA, same basis 180.00 180.00 285.00 285.00 285.00

 Average sales value (natural source),

 f.o.b. mine or plant, dollars per short ton 96.64 103.53 122.11 129.88 120.00

Stocks, producer, yearend 290 206 259 217 200

Employment, mine and plant, number 2,600 2,600 2,500 2,400 2,400

Net import reliance3 as a percentage

of apparent consumption E E E E E 

Recycling: There is no recycling of soda ash by producers; however, glass container producers are using cullet 

glass, thereby reducing soda ash consumption.

Import Sources (2006–09): United Kingdom, 29%; China, 28%; Mexico, 22%; Japan, 7%; and other, 14%.

Tariff: Item Number Normal Trade Relations

12-31-10

Disodium carbonate 2836.20.0000 1.2% ad val.

Depletion Allowance: Natural, 14% (Domestic and foreign).

Government Stockpile: None.

Events, Trends, and Issues: The global economic problems in 2009 continued in 2010. The downturn in the 

residential and commercial construction and automotive industries reduced glass usage and that affected soda ash 

consumption worldwide. In the third quarter of 2010, domestic soda ash production and export sales increased, 

especially to South America and southeast Asia. The U.S. soda ash export association raised the export price by $30 

per ton effective October 1 citing that global soda ash demand was improving.

 

U.S. soda ash producers announced $10 per ton price increases in May and again in September. The increases were 

necessary to offset cost increases and to support continued investment in the soda ash business. By yearend, it was 

uncertain how much of the proposed price increases were accepted by consumers through contract negotiations. 

Prepared by Dennis S. Kostick [(703) 648-7715, dkostick@usgs.gov, fax: (703) 648-7757]
149

SODA ASH

A Wyoming soda ash producer with seven synthetic soda ash plants in Europe withdrew from the U.S. export 

association effective after December 31, 2010. The company indicated that it was fully capable to logistically and 

technically serve its worldwide customers. This was the second soda ash company to leave the association since its 

formation in 1984.

Operators of the natural soda ash facility at Beypazari, Turkey, which came onstream in 2009, announced plans to 

double production capacity by early 2013. The plant was designed to produce one million tons of soda ash annually 

from underground trona beds. Production costs were estimated to be 30% to 40% lower than the Solvay synthetic 

soda ash process.

The adverse economic conditions throughout most of the world are forecast to improve beginning in 2011. 

Notwithstanding the continuing economic and energy problems in certain areas of the world, overall global demand 

for soda ash is expected to grow from 1.5% to 2% annually for the next several years. If the domestic economy and 

export sales improve, U.S. consumption may be higher in 2011.

World Production and Reserves

 Production Reserves4, 5

:

Natural: 2009

United States 9,310 10,000 6

23,000,000

2010e

Botswana 250 250 400,000

Kenya 405 450 7,000

Mexico — — 200,000

Turkey 1,000 1,000 200,000

Uganda NA NA 20,000

Other countries — —

 World total, natural (rounded) 11,100 11,700 24,000,000

 260,000

 World total, synthetic (rounded) 33,000 34,300 XX

 World total (rounded) 44,000 46,000 XX

World Resources: Soda ash is obtained from trona and sodium carbonate-rich brines. The world’s largest deposit of 

trona is in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. About 47 billion tons of identified soda ash resources could be 

recovered from the 56 billion tons of bedded trona and the 47 billion tons of interbedded or intermixed trona and halite 

that are in beds more than 1.2 meters thick. Underground room-and-pillar mining, using conventional and continuous 

mining, is the primary method of mining Wyoming trona ore. This method has an average 45% mining recovery, 

whereas average recovery from solution mining is 30%. Improved solution-mining techniques, such as horizontal 

drilling to establish communication between well pairs, could increase this extraction rate and entice companies to 

develop some of the deeper trona beds. Wyoming trona resources are being depleted at the rate of about 15 million 

tons per year (8.3 million tons of soda ash). Searles Lake and Owens Lake in California contain an estimated 815 

million tons of soda ash reserves. There are at least 62 identified natural sodium carbonate deposits in the world, only 

some of which have been quantified. Although soda ash can be manufactured from salt and limestone, both of which 

are practically inexhaustible, synthetic soda ash is more costly to produce and generates environmentally deleterious 

wastes.

Substitutes: Caustic soda can be substituted for soda ash in certain uses, particularly in the pulp and paper, water 

treatment, and certain chemical sectors. Soda ash, soda liquors, or trona can be used as feedstock to manufacture 

chemical caustic soda, which is an alternative to electrolytic caustic soda.

e

Estimated. E Net exporter. NA Not available. XX Not applicable. — Zero. 1

Does not include values for soda liquors and mine waters. 2

Natural only.

3

Defined as imports – exports + adjustments for Government and industry stock changes. 4

The reported quantities are sodium carbonate only. About 1.8 tons of trona yields 1 ton of sodium carbonate.

5

See Appendix C for resource/reserve definitions and information concerning data sources.

6

From trona, nahcolite, and dawsonite sources.

U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2011