American kaolin market today not only encompasses the USA, home to the famous Georgia kaolin belt, but also Brazil, which last year overtook the UK as the world's second largest producer of processed kaolin. Whilst kaolin production in Brazil has rapidly expanded in the past decade, the industry in the USA has gradually contracted. Up until now, kaolin from Brazil has largely served the European market. But in 2005, imports of Brazilian clays into the USA jumped 29 percent (from 187,066 tonnes in 2004 to 235,331 tonnes) as leading Brazilian producer, CVRD's Caemi, began exporting kaolin directly into Maine from its PPSA operation to serve local paper mills, raising concerns that Brazil may start making the same inroads in North America that it has made in Europe over the last decade.
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