A few decades back, explosives were mainly used in military warfare applications. Today, they are essential for many industries which use it in the form of pressings, castings, polymer bond, rubberized, blasting agent, and dynamites. They are usually categorized based on their sensitivity to initiate, detonation velocity, stability, power, brisance, density, and hygroscopic nature. They can be classified into high and low explosives as per its velocity. Currently, they are essential in fields like construction, mining, engineering, and quarrying. Some of the most prominent uses of explosives includes propelling rockets into orbit, bonding metals together, and production of industrial diamonds. The procurement market intelligence report from SpendEdge outlines that the mining segment accounted for the largest share of 75%-80% of the global explosives market in terms of revenue due to a rapid increase in mining activities.
Top 5 Companies Dominating the Explosives Manufacturing Sector
ORICA
Orica is an Australian company and the world’s largest provider of commercial explosives and blasting systems. The company is also a specialist provider of ground support services in tunneling and mining. The company serves industries including mining, quarrying, construction, and oil and gas. Bulk systems, electronic blasting systems, initiating systems, packaged explosives, emulsifiers are some of the key products of the company. The company reported revenues of US$3.79 billion for the fiscal year 2016 by employing over 11,500 people.
Sasol
Sasol is an integrated energy and chemical company that develops and commercializes technologies, including synthetic fuels technologies and produces different liquid fuels, chemicals, and electricity. It is also the world’s first oil-from-coal company. The company now operates in 33 countries and is the largest corporate taxpayer in South Africa. Their line of chemical business includes products like polymers, solvents, fertilizers, and explosives. In 2017, Sasol reported sales figure of 245 ktpa for its explosives business.
Hanwha
Hanwha is a company involved in explosives manufacturing with diversified holdings in retail and financial services. Their product line of commercial explosives includes MegaMITE, MegaMEX, NewMITE Plus, NewVEX, LoVEX, and NewFINEX. Their products are used in chemical and power plants, electrical welding, train transition joints, and structural transition joint. In 2016, Hanwha confirmed a five-year-term contract with Whitehaven Coal to supply all bulk and initiating explosives and down-the-hole services in Australia.
MAXAMCorp
The history of MAXAMCorp roots back to 1872 when Alfred Nobel founded the Sociedad Española de la Pólvora Dinamita. The company offers high-tech products and services ranging from terra solutions, outdoors, defense, and chemicals. Blasting solutions, cartridges and gunpowder, and raw materials for the nitro chemical industry are some of its key products. One of their brand EXPAL specializes in demilitarization by recycling explosives recovered from different sectors such as infrastructures, mining industry, and demolitions.
Chemring
Chemring is an international firm, providing a range of advanced technology products and services worldwide for the defense, civil defense and key commercial customers. The company best producer of IM explosives, energetic devices, solid propellants, and subsystems in Europe. Rocket motors, propellant materials, canopy cutting charges, linear explosives, cartridge-actuated devices, propellant-actuated devices (CAD/PADs), fuze and safe/arm units, flight termination systems, pyro-mechanisms and actuators, warheads and charges, primers and initiators are some of the key products offered by the company.
Read more about the top companies in explosives manufacturing along with sourcing strategies, procurement best practices, pricing strategy and supply chain challenges in SpendEdge’s upcoming report on the global explosives market.
