Nuclear applications held the largest share of the market in 2015, accounting for 95% of the total market. Zirconium alloys are mostly used as materials for cladding nuclear fuel. They are also used for making core structural components for watercooled nuclear power reactors worldwide. 95% of metallic zirconium is used in nuclear reactors to make fuel rods that contain uranium pellets. France, the US,and Russia are the major markets for zirconium in nuclear applications Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the fastest-growing zirconium market with a CAGR of 7.33% and is expected to reach 1.78 million metric tons by 2020. The market is dominated by China, which holds a share of almost 70% of the market. The market in APAC is growing at a fast pace mainly because of increased demand from emerging countries such as China and India and stable demand from major consuming economies such as Japan, Indonesia, and Australia.The ceramics segment accounted for 56.83% of the global zirconium market in 2015. Zircon is used as an opacifier for ceramic tiles, and zircon sand is used as glaze emulsion in ceramics. The key applications of zirconium in the ceramics segment include tableware, sanitary ware, and tiles. Zirconium is also used for manufacturing laboratory equipment as it can withstand high temperatures. It is also used in some diesel and jet engines and is suitable for manufacturing portable devices. For instance, in 2016, Apple patented its protective zirconia enclosure for table devices.

PART 01: Executive summary 6

Highlights 6

PART 02: Scope of the report 7

Market overview 7

PART 03: Market research methodology 11

Research methodology 11

Economic indicators 11

PART 04: Introduction 12

Key market highlights 12

Overview 13

Chemical properties 14

Value chain 15

Zirconium reserves 16

PART 05: Market landscape 17

Global zirconium market 17

PART 06: Segmentation by end-use 20

Overview 20

Global zirconium market for ceramics 21

Global zirconium market for chemicals 22

Global zirconium market for foundry 23

Global zirconium market for refractories 24

PART 07: Segmentation by product type 25

PART 08: Segmentation by application 27

PART 09: Segmentation by geography 29

Zirconium market in APAC 30

Zirconium market in EMEA 32

Zirconium market in Americas 34

PART 10: Key leading countries 36

Australia 36

South Africa 36

China 37

PART 11: Market drivers 38

Demand from nuclear power sector 38

Growth in demand from ceramics industry 39

Increase in demand from China 40

PART 12: Impact of drivers 42

PART 13: Market challenges 43

Volatile raw material prices 43

Supply and demand gap 43

Stringent mining policy and high tariffs 44

PART 14: Impact of drivers and challenges 45

PART 15: Market trends 46

Technological advances 46

Increase in demand from new application areas 46

Better replacement for titanium in dentistry 46

PART 16: Vendor landscape 47

Competitive Scenario 47

Other prominent vendors 49

Key market vendors 51

Alkane Resources 52

Exxaro Resources 53

Iluka Resources 54

Kenmare Resources 55

Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) 57

Tronox 57

PART 17: Appendix 59

List of abbreviations 59

PART 18: Explore Technavio 60