Supply / Demand Chart of Asbestos Use

ASBESTOS STATISTICS1

 

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

 

[All values are in metric tons (t) asbestos content unless otherwise noted]

 

Last modification: April 10, 2006

 

Year Production Imports Exports Apparent consumption Unit value $/t Unit value 98$/t World production
1900 956     956 17.10 340 20,600
1901 678     678 19.90 390 30,500
1902 912     912 17.80 340 28,400
1903 805     805 20.80 380 34,300
1904 1,340     1,340 19.20 350 41,100
1905 2,820     2,820 15.20 280 56,000
1906 1,540     1,540 18.60 340 64,700
1907 592     592 20.10 350 66,300
1908 849     849 23.10 420 14,100
1909 2,800     2,800 22.40 410 73,600
1910 3,350 43,100   46,400 20.40 360 84,700
1911 6,900 51,800   58,700 17.40 310 114,000
1912 3,990 64,900   68,900 22.00 370 117,000
1913 998 88,100   89,100 12.20 201 145,000
1914 1,130 65,200   66,300 18.50 302 106,000
1915 1,570 84,900   86,500 49.00 791 117,000
1916 1,490 105,000 283 107,000 149 2,228 142,000
1917 1,780 122,000 642 123,000 210 2,674 141,000
1918 905 125,000 632 125,000 144 1,554 144,000
1919 1,050 123,000 1,020 123,000 260 2,450 181,000
1920 1,500 152,000 558 153,000 454 3,700 193,000
1921 754 65,700 472 66,000 447 4,070 91,100
1922 61 136,000 341 135,000 166 1,611 136,000
1923 206 193,000 617 192,000 46.70 445 201,000
1924 272 166,000 1,150 165,000 156 1,487 198,000
1925 1,140 209,000 1,010 209,000 45.30 422 312,000
1926 1,230 234,000 1,000 234,000 109 1,004 329,000
1927 2,700 203,000 280 205,000 125 1,171 342,000
1928 2,030 209,000 771 210,000 173 1,649 354,000
1929 2,860 238,000 643 240,000 123 1,172 400,000
1930 3,850 189,000 699 192,000 75.20 734 339,000
1931 2,930 124,000 1,560 125,000 40.60 440 235,000
1932 3,230 87,800 1,550 89,500 32.60 390 186,000
1933 4,310 108,000 1,250 112,000 30.40 380 249,000
1934 4,620 109,000 1,510 112,000 34.30 420 271,000
1935 8,090 151,000 771 158,000 36.20 430 337,000
1936 10,000 221,000 3,400 228,000 32.30 380 460,000
1937 11,000 279,000 2,730 287,000 31.50 360 556,000
1938 9,470 163,000 2,520 170,000 26.10 300 413,000
1939 14,000 220,000 2,240 232,000 36.60 430 425,000
1940 18,200 226,000 4,060 238,000 37.10 430 428,000
1941 22,100 380,000 4,400 398,000 32.80 360 528,000
1942 14,000 380,000 702 394,000 35.50 360 509,000
1943 5,460 399,000 333 405,000 61.40 580 575,000
1944 6,050 347,000 431 353,000 62.90 580 546,000
1945 11,100 340,000 7,760 343,000 40.20 360 573,000
1946 12,800 413,000 9,990 416,000 39.50 330 680,000
1947 21,800 540,000 2,430 559,000 42.10 310 816,000
1948 33,600 588,000 8,370 613,000 53.70 360 930,000
1949 39,400 462,000 18,200 483,000 66.40 450 884,000
1950 38,500 640,000 19,000 660,000 76.00 510 1,290,000
1951 46,900 691,000 15,000 723,000 83.50 520 1,420,000
1952 48,900 644,000 9,730 683,000 96.50 590 1,420,000
1953 49,400 628,000 2,790 675,000 98.30 600 1,420,000
1954 43,200 615,000 1,720 657,000 109 660 1,510,000
1955 40,400 671,000 2,530 709,000 111 675 1,770,000
1956 37,500 625,000 2,680 660,000 127 761 1,810,000
1957 39,600 620,000 2,620 656,000 124 719 1,890,000
1958 39,900 584,000 2,750 622,000 129 728 1,860,000
1959 41,200 647,000 4,050 684,000 106 594 2,050,000
1960 41,000 607,000 5,010 643,000 103 567 2,210,000
1961 47,900 560,000 3,450 604,000 90.70 490 2,510,000
1962 48,300 613,000 3,580 659,000 96.90 520 2,410,000
1963 60,200 606,000 9,070 657,000 84.80 450 2,510,000
1964 91,700 670,000 24,500 738,000 88.80 470 2,770,000
1965 107,000 653,000 39,000 721,000 94.70 490 2,810,000
1966 114,000 659,000 42,600 731,000 96.80 490 2,970,000
1967 112,000 585,000 43,300 654,000 99.30 480 2,910,000
1968 109,000 669,000 37,400 741,000 95.00 440 3,010,000
1969 114,000 630,000 32,800 712,000 93.20 410 3,270,000
1970 114,000 589,000 42,600 665,000 94.10 400 3,490,000
1971 119,000 618,000 49,000 699,000 103 414 3,580,000
1972 120,000 668,000 53,500 747,000 112 437 3,780,000
1973 136,000 718,000 59,900 803,000 120 441 4,190,000
1974 99,000 695,000 56,000 767,000 139 460 4,160,000
1975 89,500 489,000 33,100 551,000 159 482 4,140,000
1976 105,000 597,000 42,600 659,000 226 647 4,770,000
1977 92,256 551,000 34,900 609,000 274 737 4,790,000
1978 93,100 570,000 41,800 619,000 301 753 4,690,000
1979 93,400 513,000 43,300 561,000 310 696 4,760,000
1980 80,100 327,000 48,700 359,000 382 756 4,700,000
1981 75,600 338,000 64,400 349,000 406 728 4,350,000
1982 63,500 242,000 58,800 247,000 392 662 4,560,000
1983 69,900 196,000 54,600 217,000 399 653 4,430,000
1984 57,400 210,000 39,900 226,000 422 662 4,310,000
1985 57,500 142,000 45,700 162,000 357 541 4,250,000
1986 51,400 108,000 47,300 120,000 338 503 4,030,000
1987 50,600 93,800 60,100 84,300 340 488 4,240,000
1988 18,200 85,300 31,500 71,400 252 347 4,320,000
1989 17,400 55,300 27,000 55,300 254 334 4,240,000
1990 18,500 41,300 28,000 41,300 262 327 4,010,000
1991 20,100 34,800 26,000 34,800 383 458 3,530,000
1992 15,600 31,600 25,000 32,800 394 458 3,350,000
1993 13,700 30,800 27,600 31,600 435 491 2,520,000
1994 10,100 25,800 17,500 26,800 507 558 2,250,000
1995 9,290 21,900 14,600 22,000 220 235 2,180,000
1996 9,550 21,600 15,400 21,700 226 235 2,100,000
1997 6,890 20,900 20,300 21,000 223 226 2,150,000
1998 5,760 15,800 18,100 15,800 205 205 1,980,000
1999 7,190 15,800 21,700 15,800 199 195 1,850,000
2000 5,260 14,600 18,800 14,600 172 163 2,110,000
2001 5,260 13,100 21,700 13,100 202 186 2,060,000
2002 2,720 6,900 6,550 6,850 258 234 2,320,000
2003   4,650 2,820 4,650 1,260 1,110 2,360,000
2004   3,450 1,580 3,450 234 202 2,360,000

Asbestos Worksheet Notes

Data Sources
The sources of data for the asbestos worksheet are the mineral statistics publications of the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the U.S. Geological Survey—Minerals Yearbook (MYB) and its predecessor, Mineral Resources of the United States (MR).  The years of publication and corresponding years of data coverage are listed in the References section below.  Blank fields in the worksheet indicate that data are not available.

Production
Data are domestic asbestos sold or used by producers.  Data are from the MR and the MYB.  Data for the years 2003–04 are not available.

Imports
Data are for unmanufactured asbestos material imported into the United States.  Data are from the MR and the MYB.  Import data are not available prior to 1909.

Exports
Data are for unmanufactured asbestos material exported from the United States.  Data are from the MR and the MYB.  Export data are not available prior to 1916.

Apparent Consumption
Except for the year 1913, apparent consumption data were not published prior to 1915.  For the years 1900–09, apparent consumption data are estimated to equal the production (sold or used) data.  For the years 1910–12 and 1914, apparent consumption data are calculated with the following equation:

APPARENT CONSUMPTION = PRODUCTION (SOLD OR USED) + IMPORTS.

Apparent consumption data for the year 1913 and years 1915–2004 are from the MR and the MYB.

Unit Value ($/t)
Unit value is defined as the value of 1 metric ton (t) of asbestos apparent consumption.  Data for the years 1900–87 and 1991–94 are calculated based on the asbestos sold or used value data from the MR and MYB.  Data for the years 1988–90 and 1995–2004 are calculated based on the asbestos import value data from the MYB.  The major change in value in the years 2003–04 from previous years reflects a change to higher valued material.

Unit Value (98$/t)
The Consumer Price Index conversion factor, with 1998 as the base year, is used to adjust unit value in current U.S. dollars to the unit value in constant 1998 U.S. dollars.

World Production
Data are world mine production of asbestos.  Data for the years 1900–04 include only Canada and the United States.  For the years 1904–12, data include Canada, the United States, and Russia.  World asbestos mine production data are from the MR and the MYB.

References
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1927–34, Mineral Resources of the United States, 1924–31.
U.S. Bureau of Mines, 1933–96, Minerals Yearbook, 1932–94.
U.S. Geological Survey, 1901–27, Mineral Resources of the United States, 1900–23.
U.S. Geological Survey, 1997–2006, Minerals Yearbook, v. I, 1995–2004.

Recommended Citation Format:
U.S. Geological Survey, [year of last update, e.g., 2005], [Mineral commodity, e.g., Gold] statistics, in Kelly, T.D., and Matos, G.R., comps., Historical statistics for mineral and material commodities in the United States:  U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 140, available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/2005/140/.  (Accessed [date].)

For more information, please contact:

USGS Asbestos Commodity Specialist