Prices have increased 70 times in 40 years! Will China's transition from exports to imports deplete this resource?

Tech 2023-07-08 10:19:01 Source: Network

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Text: Dazui Social Science
Editor: Dazui Social Science

There is a substance that we come into contact with every day but never truly value - sand. Like bacteria silently supporting the chain of life, sand, with its seemingly insignificant existence, is actually silently supporting our modern society.

Think carefully, the skeleton of the house, the clear glass windows, and the silicon in the chips of the smart devices in hand cannot be made without sand as the main raw material. Moreover, the ubiquitous modern infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and airports is almost entirely made of sand.

The widespread application and consumption of sand is undoubtedly a powerful witness to the progress of human civilization.

However, one fact that we easily overlook is that although sand seems to be everywhere on the earth, it is not an endless resource.

With the expansion of global population and the acceleration of urbanization, our demand for sand is exceeding the Earth's supply capacity. In the past 20 years, global sand consumption has doubled, and a large part of this demand is due to the rapid development of urbanization.

As the world's second most populous country and the country with the most construction projects, China, once a major exporter of sand, is now forced to import sand from abroad to meet its demand for engineering materials. The transaction price of sand has also skyrocketed 70 times in the past 40 years.

Some people may ask, nowadays, in areas near the equator such as Central Asia and North Africa, yellow sand is everywhere, and there are also large deserts in China. How could the sand be exhausted? To answer this question, we first need to start with the sand itself.

Sand, a microscopic granular material formed by weathering, erosion, and transportation of rocks over time, typically falls within the range of 0.074 to 2mm in size. The ubiquitous nature of this substance has almost become synonymous with "endless".

Whether it's the vast and boundless desert, or the parks and streets in daily life, you can see traces of sand. However, most people may not be aware that there are many types of sand, each with its own characteristics and uses, and not all sand can meet the needs of industry.

When we mention industrial use, the required sand must be of the type that is rough, sharp edged, and can aggregate together to form a stable structure. And this type of sand mainly comes from rivers, lakes, and coasts.

Relatively speaking, although there is a large amount of sand in the desert, due to long-term wind erosion, its shape is too round and smooth to be used for manufacturing products such as concrete.

According to the source and formation environment of sand, we can divide the sand required for industry into four major categories.

Among all industrial sands, river sand is the most widely used type of sand, with a demand for additives from building materials to high-temperature refractory materials.

River sand is the sand carried in the river, mainly composed of Silicate mineral such as quartz and feldspar, with smooth, uniform and clean particles. Mountain river sand and Ping Yuen River sand are two main subtypes. The former has coarser grains and more edges, while the latter has finer grains and less edges.

The second type of industrial sand is sea sand, which can play a role in metallurgy, whether it is in mold molding, electronic silicon, or added to various alloy steel materials.

Sea sand refers to the sand near the sea or coastline, which is mainly composed of Silicate mineral such as quartz, feldspar, mica, and carbonate marine biological debris, with smooth, porous particles and high salt content. Land source sea sand and sea source sea sand are two main subcategories, the former being transported by water flow from sand on land, and the latter being formed by wave action from seabed rock layers or bioclastics.

The third kind of sand is mountain sand, which can be used to make gel and external wall insulation mortar.

Mountain sand comes from mountainous or hilly areas and is mainly formed by weathering of Igneous rock or Metamorphic rock, such as granite and basalt, with coarse, uneven particles and high mud content.

Weathered mountain sand and alluvial mountain sand are its two main subclasses. The former is formed by the weathering of the rock surface, while the latter is formed by the transportation and accumulation of weathered mountain sand through water flow.

The fourth type of sand is artificial sand, which is derived from construction waste, so its main use is also for construction and paving.

This kind of sand is mechanically crushed or screened from various rocks or Industrial waste, mainly composed of crushed stone, tailings, Construction waste, etc. The particle shape and properties can be adjusted as required. Machine made crushed stone and machine made tailings are their two main subcategories, the former being formed by crushing various hard rocks, and the latter by crushing the tailings discharged from the beneficiation plant.

It is precisely because industrial sand comes from special channels that sand has gradually become a scarce resource in China.

According to the Global Sand and Gravel Resources Assessment Report released by the United Nations Environment Programme in 2019, the global demand for sand and gravel has reached 50 billion tons. Among them, 20 billion tons of demand comes from China, accounting for 40% of the global total demand.

As the world's largest producer and consumer of cement, China has a huge demand for sand in its production process. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's cement production reached 2.37 billion tons in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 6.9%. Assuming that 1.5 tons of sand are required for each ton of cement production, the amount of sand used solely for cement production in China reached 3.55 billion tons in 2019.

In addition, according to the data of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's fixed assets investment in 2019 was 55.6 trillion yuan, up 5.4% year on year, including 13.2 trillion yuan in real estate development investment, up 9.9% year on year, and 22.5 trillion yuan in infrastructure investment, up 3.8% year on year. These are projects that consume sand on a large scale.

As an important raw material for manufacturing high-tech products such as glass and chips, sand also consumes a huge amount in China's technological field. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's production of flat glass in 2019 was 860 million weight boxes (50 cubic meters per weight box), a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. According to data from the Semiconductor Industry Association, China's integrated circuit production in the same year was 177 billion chips, a year-on-year increase of 15.8%. The production of these products cannot be separated from high-purity quartz sand.

The surge in demand for sand in the past few decades has led to a significant increase in sand prices. Data from different regions and times reveal a shocking phenomenon, where the price of sand has increased beyond many people's imagination in the past decade, with prices in some places doubling by as much as ten times. The impact of this change on the construction industry, economic development, and even social stability has become a reality that cannot be ignored.

In the construction industry, the rise in sand prices has had a direct and profound impact on it. As an important component of key building materials such as concrete and mortar, the impact of sand on building costs cannot be underestimated.

Taking 2019 data as an example, according to the records of the National Development and Reform Commission, the national construction material price index was 106.8, a year-on-year increase of 6.8%, with the sand and stone price index reaching 113.5, a year-on-year increase of 13.5%. Due to the rise in sand prices, the construction industry has had to face a series of challenges such as declining profits, increasing financial pressure, and project delays.

The rise in sand prices is also subtly affecting the overall economic development. As one of the key pillars of the national economy, every move in the construction industry will have a profound impact on other industries.

Due to the increase in construction costs, industries such as real estate and infrastructure have to face a series of problems such as reduced investment, rising prices, and weakened demand. These negative effects further affect areas such as consumption, employment, and taxation, posing obstacles to economic growth and social welfare.

More worrisome is that the rise in sand prices may also trigger a series of social issues. The high price of sand has attracted some illegal elements, who obtain huge profits through illegal sand mining, smuggling sand, and raising sand prices.

These illegal behaviors not only seriously damage the ecological environment of river channels, threaten water conservancy safety and flood control capacity, but also seriously disrupt market order and social security, posing a direct threat to public interests and national security.

But we don't have to be too alarmed. Faced with these challenges, our country has taken various actions to address them.

Firstly, from a legal perspective, China has begun to impose strict restrictions on the extraction of natural sand. As a scarce and non renewable natural resource, excessive exploitation of sand not only damages the river ecosystem, affects hydrological conditions and water resource distribution, but also causes a series of serious problems such as soil erosion, geological disasters, and floods and droughts.

In order to protect the ecological environment and water safety, China has formulated strict strategies to control the extraction of natural sand. At the same time, we will crack down on illegal activities such as sand mining and smuggling to minimize dependence on natural sand.

Secondly, China has begun to explore another possibility to meet the demand for sand in the construction industry: artificial sand production technology. China has been increasing the research, development and promotion of this technology. By using rocks, tailings, waste pebbles, coal gangue, Construction waste and other raw materials, and by means of mechanical processing, it has produced artificial sand that meets the specifications and standards. This not only saves natural resources, but also achieves effective utilization of waste, further reducing costs and environmental pollution.

The depletion of natural resources is a major challenge facing the world, and the development of recycling is a common global demand. We also hope that China can achieve recycling of sand and gravel resources as soon as possible.

What do you think of this? Welcome to explore below.

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