Part I  iteM 1 Business synthetically, but this process requires a significant amount of energy  and produces large quantities of waste by-products, making it much  less cost-effective than natural soda ash production. Because of the processing cost advantages of trona and the large natural  reserves of trona in the U.S., particularly in Green River, Wyoming,  all U.S. soda ash is naturally produced. By contrast, due to a lack of  trona, the majority of the soda ash that is manufactured in the rest of  the world is produced synthetically. Other U.S. producers are OCI  Chemical Corporation, Solvay S.A., The General Chemical Group Inc.,  in which a majority stake is owned by Tata Chemicals Limited, and  Nirma Limited. Approximately 52 percent of U.S. soda ash production served export  markets in 2010, with approximately 31 percent of U.S. soda ash  production exported through the American Natural Soda Ash  Corporation (“ANSAC”). ANSAC is the foreign sales association  of Wyoming U.S. soda ash producers established in 1983 under the  Webb-Pomerene Act and subsequent legislation. Since its creation,  ANSAC has been successful in coordinating soda ash exports, taking  advantage of the inherent cost benefits of U.S. produced natural  soda ash and leveraging its large scale of operations to the benefit of  its member companies. Consequently, U.S. exports of soda ash have  increased over fivefold in the last 25 years. Hydrogen peroxide is typically sold for use as a bleach or oxidizer. As  such, it often competes with other chemicals capable of performing  similar functions. Some of our specialty peroxygen derivatives (e.g.,  persulfates and percarbonates) also function as bleaching or oxidizing  agents. Environmental regulations, regional cost differences primarily  due to transportation costs, and technical differences in product  performance factor into the decision to use hydrogen peroxide or one  of its derivatives rather than another product. Since these considerations  vary by region, the consumption patterns vary in different parts of the  Our raw material requirements vary by business segment and include  mineral-related natural resources (trona ore and lithium brines), processed  chemicals, seaweed, specialty wood pulps and energy sources such as  gas, coal, oil and electricity. Raw materials represented approximately 25  percent of our 2010 costs of sales and services, and no one raw material  represented more than 10 percent of our total raw material purchases. world. Hydrogen peroxide is sold in aqueous solutions, usually 70  percent, 50 percent or 35 percent by weight. The North American and European pulp and paper industry represents  approximately 65 and 70 percent, respectively of North American and  European demand for hydrogen peroxide. In these markets, hydrogen  peroxide is used as an environmentally friendly bleaching agent to  brighten chemical, mechanical and recycled pulps as well as to treat a  wide range of mill pollutants in the waste stream. The North American  and European paper markets are mature, and new investment in pulp  and paper capacity is largely focused in Asia and South America. The  other North American and European hydrogen peroxide producers are  EKA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Akzo Nobel N.V, Arkema Inc.,  Evonik Industries AG, Kemira Ovj, and Solvay S.A. Zeolite has a network structure which facilitates the exchange of cations,  enabling it to soften hard water in detergents. Environmental regulations  limiting or banning the use of sodium tripolyphosphate in detergents  have facilitated the introduction of Zeolite as builder in detergents. The  properties of zeolites make them very suitable for specific applications  such as adsorption, separation, ion exchange and others. In addition,  the zeolite network structure can be modified to produce specialty  zeolite products designed to meet sophisticated market demands. We  are currently working on applications to meet these demands. The  main European Zeolite producers are PQ, Industrial Zeolite and FMC. Soluble silicates are very versatile inorganic chemical products. They  are produced by combining various ratios of sand with alkali to obtain  a variety of products used in many industries. The applications of  silicates include detergents, ceramics, paper, foundry, construction,  rubber, agriculture, textiles and production of other chemicals. Due  to their relatively low price and high logistic cost the silicate market  is very fragmented with mostly local production. The main European  producers are PQ, Cognis and FMC. We extract ores used in Industrial Chemicals’ manufacturing processes  from mines (e.g. trona in North America). Raw materials used by  Specialty Chemicals include lithium brines, various types of seaweed that  are sourced on a global basis and specialty pulps which are purchased  from selected global producers. Raw materials used by Agricultural  Products, primarily processed chemicals, are obtained from a variety  of suppliers worldwide. Through December 31, 2010, our Huelva  facility purchased the raw material, phosphorous rock, from others. We own a number of U.S. and foreign patents, trademarks and licenses  that are cumulatively important to our business. We do not believe that  the loss of any one or group of related patents, trademarks or licenses  would have a material adverse effect on the overall business of FMC.  The duration of our patents depends on their respective jurisdictions.  Their expiration dates range through 2030. patents source and availability of raw Materials peroxygens zeolites and silicates 10 FMC Corporation    2010 Form 10K