Habuer; Zhou, Y.; Takaoka, M. (2017) Presented at 4th International Conference on Final Sinks, Kyoto, Japan, October 26, 2017
INTRODUCTION
China as the largest manufacture spot in the world is one of the largest mercury production and consumption countries, and the domestic supply of mercury was increasing significantly to meet its
demand since early 1990s (Fang 2005). The utilization of mercury in the wide range of products, and
industrial processes created large concerns regarding its toxicity and negative impacts on the
environment (Li et al. 2009). In October 2013, China signed the Minamata Convention on Mercury
(MCM) as the 30th signatory state and its implementation will have a significant impact on the mercury resource management (Zou et al. 2017). Therefore, the capture of quantitative information in excess mercury as a basis for strategic mercury management policies have become increasingly urgent, especially to the long-term safety storage of mercury in China.
There have been few reports (UNEP 2009, UNEP 2016) discussing on the excess mercury. Both the reports conducted a scenario assessment over a 40-year period (2010-2050) by applying baseline data in 2005. However, in those existing studies, there remain some problems. First, simple assumptions have been applied that need to be updated due to the implementation of MCM. Second, the baseline data need to be updated to the recent data. Third, there exists no study that describes excess mercury in China. The above-mentioned issues indicate that further work needs to be done. In this study, at first, we analyzed the past and current situation on domestic supply and demand using various data sources. Then, the future excess mercury was predicted during different scenarios.