What's Going On with the TiO2 Pricing Momentum?

摘要

TiO2 forecasts for 2018 looked strong worldwide.Then yellow flags signaled warnings by early summer.What happened? And what can we expect in the near future? CEOs of major TiO2 producers are still upbeat,because they see a strong industry and growing demand without significant capacity expansion.However,as usual,China demands our attention and remains the central issue for TiO,worldwide.To reduce environmental damage,the central government has not only imposed environmental regulations and stepped up enforcement,but it has also severely restricted expansion of sulfate process TiO2 production.Sulfate TiO2 expansion is limited to larger projects or to existing facilities.The goal is two-fold: for one,the chloride process is more environmentally friendly,uses less energy and produces less waste per tonne of pigment produced.Secondly,the chloride process commands higher prices along with higher grades of TiO2 products needed for many applications.These actions are occurring because the government favors chloride process TiO2.However,producers in China have little track record with the chloride process,and it will take time,investment and experience to bring the industry to levels that are competitive with multinational producers(MNPs).