Hill Brothers buys calcium chloride from Cargill, MagnesiumCorporation of America and National Chloride and processes it into finishedproduct at Salt Lake City, Utah, and Amboy, Calif., but Hill mothballed itsAmboy plant in August 1995. Tetra's capacities on a 100 percent basis. Thecompany's capacities are all for liquid material, except at its Lake Charlessite, which has a nameplate of 36,000 tons of liquid and 120,000 tons of drymaterial. Tetra's plant in Parkersburg began production in 1994 in apartnership with DuPont. Vulcan began commercial production in 1993 andmarkets its material through Tetra.
Several companies produce small amountsof reagent and USP grades.
Imports range from 200,000 to 250,000 annual metric tons and areprimarily from Canada. Lesser quantities come from Mexico, Germany andScandinavia. Producerscaution that too much capacity may come on too quickly, especially if Ambaropens its plant and follows through with expansions. Warn winters can hurtdemand for de-icers, and concrete is a declining market because of concernover chloride in roadways and structures. The market remains flat and in good balance.