China's bentonite resources are abundant, and its reserves rank first in the world. It is mainly distributed in Guangxi, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Shandong, Hubei and Zhejiang provinces. China has identified resource reserves of 2.793 billion tons, including 808 million tons of basic reserves and 387 million tons of reserves.

In recent years, China's bentonite production has remained at around 3 million tons. Except for about 300,000 tons of exports, domestic consumption is about 2.6 million tons. China's bentonite consumption structure is: casting industry 100-1.2 million tons, accounting for 44%; drilling mud 70 tons, accounting for 28%; iron ore pellets for 470,000 tons, accounting for 18%; oil decolorization (active clay) 200,000 tons, 12%; other (mainly petrochemical, light industry, textile, agricultural and construction materials, etc.) 200,000 to 300,000 tons, accounting for 12%.

China's bentonite is a "lower and higher" situation in the international market, that is, exporting low-grade products (original ore, foundry, drilling, low-grade activated clay, etc.), imported high-grade products (washing powder softener, high-grade organic soil, Bentonite waterproof blanket, etc.). In recent years, the average import price of bentonite in China has remained at about three times the average export price. In 2009, for example, the average price of imported products was about 113.7 US dollars / ton, and the average import price was 295.9 US dollars / ton.

The current status of China's bentonite industry is characterized by small scale of enterprises (a small number of enterprises with an annual output of over 10,000 tons) and low technical level. Because it is a resource-based industry, the competition is not very intense, and production, sales and prices are rising year by year.