The US President recently said the conflict between Russia and Ukraine had driven up the prices of all the world's major food staples, including wheat, corn, barley, oilseeds and edible oils, and that Russia and Ukraine together supplied more than 25% of the world's wheat exports and about 20% of its barley exports. 

To address the food shortage, the Biden administration says it plans to increase the number of counties eligible for insurance for double cropping. Double cropping is when farmers grow two different crops a year on the same field. 

Under Biden's plan, the number of counties eligible for two-season crop insurance would increase by 681, for a total of 1,935. 

The UN has warned that up to 1.7bn people are "highly exposed" to the domino effect of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on the global food, energy, and financial systems.  The agency says conflict could increase hunger in countries where people are already suffering from malnutrition.

Even countries where food is less scarce are being hit by rising prices. U.S. grocery prices rose 1% in April, compared with a 10.8% increase over the past 12 months, the Labor Department said recently.

According to the White House, global food prices have risen nearly 13 percent since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

Besides, affected by the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of international bulk ZnS powder are still very uncertain.

What is Zinc Sulfide ZnS Powder?
Zinc sulfide is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula ZnS. Zinc sulfide is a white to pale or light-yellow powder. When exposed to light it becomes darker. Stable in dry air, it gradually oxidizes to zinc sulfate in wet air or when it contains moisture. Soluble in dilute inorganic acid, soluble in alkali, insoluble in water.
 
Zinc Sulfide ZnS Structure
ZnS exist in two main crystal types, and this duality is usually a prominent example of the polycrystalline type. In each form, the coordination geometry of Zn and S is tetrahedral.  The more stable cubic form is also called sphalerite. The hexagonal form is known as the mineral wurtzite, although it can also be produced synthetically. The transition from sphalerite to wurtzite occurs at about 1020°C. The tetragonal form is also known as a very rare mineral, called lithium manganese ore, with the formula (Zn, Hg) S. 
 
What is Zinc Sulfide ZnS Used For?
Zinc sulfide is mainly used in paint and plastics in chemical production. Because of its white opacity and insoluble in water, organic solvents, weak acid, weak base and become an important pigment in paint. Zinc sulfide is now the second most important pigment in the United States after titanium dioxide but continues to play an important role in European industry.
As a bulk material, the melting point of zinc sulfide is 1650℃, the Mohs hardness of 98% commercial-grade zinc sulfide is 3.0, and the refractive index is 2.37. Because of its high refractive coefficient and wear resistance, zinc sulfide pigment in equipment, wax paper, and metal plate coated with a very thin layer has relatively high hiding power. 
Zinc sulfide is easy to disperse and not easy to agglomerate. It is neutral white and has good optical properties. It is often used as a component of thermosetting plastics, thermoplastic plastics, reinforced fiberglass, flame retardant, artificial rubber, and dispersant. 
 
Luminescent material 
Zinc sulfide, added with a few PPM of suitable activator, exhibits strong phosphorescence (described by Nikola Tesla in 1893) and is currently used in many applications, from cathode ray tubes to X-ray screens to products that glow in the dark. When silver is used as an activator, the resulting color is bright blue, with a maximum size of 450 nanometers.  The use of manganese produces an orange-red color of about 590 nanometers. Copper glows for a long time, and it has a familiar green glow. Copper-doped zinc sulfide (" ZnS plus Cu ") is also used in electroluminescent panels. It also exhibits phosphorescence due to impurities exposed to blue or ultraviolet light.
 
Optical materials 
Zinc sulfide is also used as an infrared optical material, transmitting from visible wavelengths to just over 12 microns. It can be used flat as an optical window or molded as a lens. It is made by synthesizing hydrogen sulfide gas and zinc vapor on a microchip and is sold in FLIR grade (forward-looking infrared), where zinc sulfide is in a milky yellow, opaque form. This material can be converted to a transparent form called Cleartran (trademark) under hot isostatic pressure (HIPed). The early commercial form was marketed as IRTRAN-2 but this name is now obsolete.
 
Pigment 
Zinc sulfide is a common pigment sometimes called Sachtolith. Zinc sulfide forms lithopone when combined with barium sulfate. 
 
Catalyst 
Fine ZnS powder is a highly efficient photocatalyst that produces hydrogen gas from water under the light. Sulfur vacancies are introduced in the synthesis of zinc sulfide. This gradually turns the white-yellow ZnS into a brown powder and improves the photocatalytic activity by enhancing light absorption. 
 
Semiconductor characteristic 
Both sphalerite and wurtzite are inherently wide band-gap semiconductors. These are typical II-VI semiconductors that use structures related to many other semiconductors, such as gallium arsenide. The band gap of the cubic form of ZnS is about 3.54 EV at 300 Kelvin, but the band gap of the hexagonal form is about 3.91 EV. ZnS can be doped as n-type or P-type semiconductors.

Zinc Sulfide ZnS Powder Price
The price is influenced by many factors including the supply and demand in the market, industry trends, economic activity, market sentiment, and unexpected events.
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Zinc Sulfide ZnS Powder Supplier
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Gas supplies have been in short supply because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.  Combined with the situation that other renewable sources cannot produce enough electricity, electricity prices have soared in many parts all over the world. For this reason, I assume the supply and prices of the ZnS powder would keep being influenced by the high energy prices.

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