氢氧化钾又名苛性钾、苛性碱，其化学式为KOH，纯品为白色的斜方结晶，工业品为白色的粉末或片状固体，氢氧化钾具有强碱的腐蚀性，其性质与烧碱相似，暴露在空气中时极易与空气中的水分子发生潮解，或者吸收空气中的二氧化碳生成碳酸钾。
　　Potassium hydroxide is also known as caustic potash and caustic soda. Its chemical formula is KOH. The pure product is white rhombic crystal. The industrial product is white powder or flake solid. Potassium hydroxide has strong caustic corrosiveness. Its properties are similar to caustic soda. When exposed to air, it is easy to deliquesce with moisture in the air, or absorb carbon dioxide in the air to generate potassium carbonate.
　　氢氧化钾的用途广泛，其中包括在医药工业、轻工业、染料工业、电化学工业、冶金和皮革等。生成氢氧化钾的主要原料是氯化钾和电力，而我国是氯化钾资源贫乏国家之一，所以每年需要从国外引进大量的氯化钾进行生产。在我国进口氯化钾中，氢氧化钾生产占用量约25-30万吨，占全部进口量的二十分之一，受种种因素约束，氢氧化钾生产厂所购的氯化钾大都是转手货源，所以厂价较高，导致我国氢氧化钾产品成本较高。
　　Potassium hydroxide is widely used in medicine industry, light industry, dyestuff industry, electrochemistry industry, metallurgy and leather industry. The main raw materials for producing potassium hydroxide are potassium chloride and electric power, and China is one of the countries with poor potassium chloride resources, so it is necessary to introduce a large number of potassium chloride from abroad for production every year. Among the imported potassium chloride in China, the production of potassium hydroxide accounts for about 250000-300000 tons, accounting for one twentieth of the total import. Restricted by various factors, most of the potassium chloride purchased by the potassium hydroxide production plant is the source of transfer goods, so the factory price is high, which leads to the high cost of potassium hydroxide products in China.

　　据不完全统计，我国氢氧化钾产地主要分布在山东、浙江、江苏、湖北等地，其它个别地区也有氢氧化钾厂家生产，当相对来说不如以上地区的分布集中。
　　According to incomplete statistics, China's potassium hydroxide production areas are mainly distributed in Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei and other places, and other individual areas also have potassium hydroxide manufacturers, which is relatively less concentrated than the distribution of the above areas.