The Transition Period for the New and Old National Standards of Silver Nitrate Is Expected to End Soon. What Is the Current Market Situation? 【SMM Analysis】

In October 2024, the new national standard for silver nitrate (GB/T 44758-2024) was released, and it is expected to be officially implemented on May 1, 2025. Regarding the main differences between the new and old national standards, SMM summarized the following after communicating with the market:

1. Scope of Application

• New National Standard: Mainly targeting industrial silver nitrate, it is divided into three grades based on chemical composition: Grade 1, Grade 2, and Grade 3. Grade 1 is primarily used in PV, electronics, catalysts, and other fields; Grade 2 is mainly used in electronics, electrical engineering, and other silver salt fields; Grade 3 is mainly used in thermos flasks, electroplating, and glass coatings.
• Old National Standard: Mainly targeting chemical reagent silver nitrate, it is applicable to laboratory analysis and other fields.

2. Purity Requirements

• New National Standard: Higher requirements for the purity and impurities of silver nitrate, divided into three grades—

• Old National Standard: The specifications for silver nitrate are divided into superior grade, analytical grade, and chemical grade, with no regulations on metal impurities.

3. Impurity Control

• New National Standard: More detailed supplements to the determination methods for elements such as copper, iron, sodium, and lead, adopting more advanced detection technologies such as inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), resulting in more accurate detection results.

• Old National Standard: Mainly controls impurities such as copper, iron, and lead, using traditional methods such as manual titration with sodium thiocyanate.

With the rapid development of emerging industries such as PV and electronics, the demand for high-purity silver nitrate continues to increase, driving technological upgrades and capacity expansion in the industry. According to SMM's communication with the market, the demand for new silver nitrate production lines is almost synchronized with the growth in demand for high-quality silver powder and silver paste in the downstream PV industry. Although the quality standards for silver nitrate are higher, the unit weight processing cost gradually decreases with the increase in scale effects. The transition period between the new and old national standards is about to end, and mainstream silver nitrate suppliers in the market have completed product upgrades, with no significant changes in silver nitrate prices for the time being.

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