SIC 2892 Explosives

Contenidos

• NAICS CODE(S).
• FURTHER READING.

SIC 2892

This industry covers establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing explosives. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing ammunition for small arms are classified in SIC 3482: Small Arms Ammunition, and those manufacturing fireworks are classified in SIC 2899: Chemicals and Chemical Preparations, Not Elsewhere Classified.

NAICS CODE(S)

325920

Explosives Manufacturing

Historically, the explosives industry has been closely aligned with the coal mining industry. According to the Institute of Makers of Explosives (IME), the coal industry consumed 67 percent of explosives manufactured in the United States in the mid-2000s and remained the largest application for explosives use in the United States. The explosives industry was predicted to grow in reaction to the demand for coal, which was expected to continue to increase throughout the mid-2000s, due partly to rising costs of oil and natural gas. Growing concerns about security also affected the industry.

Historically, explosives such as black powder have been used in the United States to mine for minerals, break rock, clear fields, and build roads. After Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and the blasting cap required to make it explode, he licensed his discoveries in the United States. Mines could now be dug deeper and more quickly with dynamite, thereby making mining more profitable.

By 1905, E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Company, one of the largest U.S. explosives companies, supplied 56 percent of the production of explosives in the United States. Du Pont continued to strengthen its hold on the market; by 1907 the U.S. government had begun antitrust proceedings against the company. In 1912 Du Pont was forced to divest segments of its business, which resulted in Atlas Chemical Industries and the Hercules Powder Company. Later, Atlas was purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, Du Pont's explosives division was sold to Explosives Technologies International, and Hercules' explosives division was sold to Dyno Nobel, Inc.

In the early years of the industry, the volatile nature of explosives played a significant role in the organization of explosives manufacturers. Companies operated numerous small plants to ensure that their entire business would not be wiped out in the event of an explosion. In addition, plants were located near the consumer rather than the raw materials sources because of the danger in transporting the product.

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