According to the 2006 Minerals Yearbook published by the U.S. Geological Survey, during that year global  production of crude wollastonite was approximately 600,000 tons and total sales of refined wollastonite was estimated to be in the range of 500,000 to 550,000 tons.

China is by far the world’s leading source of wollastonite, having produced somewhere between 350,000 and 400,000 tons of the mineral in 2006. Other significant producers include India and the United States, both of which produce approximately 125,000 tons annually; Mexico, which produced 42,000 tons in 2006; and Finland, whose estimated production was 16,000 tons.  The U.S. Geological Survey also believes that smaller amounts of the mineral were produced in a variety of other countries, including Morocco, Namibia, North Korea, Pakistan, and Turkey.

The 2006 Minerals Yearbook suggests that at present the strongest demand for wollastonite come from three main industrial markets:

	In 2006, the most important market was ceramics, which accounted for an estimated 30% to 40% of global sales.
	Polymers (plastics and rubber), which is widely considered to be the fastest-growing application for wollastonite, accounted for 30% to 35% of sales.
	Paints and coatings provided between 10% and 15% of demand.

Other significant markets were construction products, friction products, and metallurgical applications. In addition, as wollastonite’s unique properties continue to become better known, new markets are continually developing.

The commercial potential that wollastonite offers may be best illustrated by considering historical trends in consumption of the mineral:

	Between 1986 and 1995, global production of wollastonite doubled.
	In some fields, demand for wollastonite is estimated to be growing at a rate of between 10% and 20% per year.

In short, global production of and demand for wollastonite have both grown dramatically over the past twenty years. As new applications are developed, and as wollastonite continues to be used in an ever-increasing variety of products, we can expect to see similarly strong growth in demand for the mineral in years to come.