All aboard the carousel

摘要

Around 12 short months ago, the pigment industry was a happy place. Overladen order books meant that plant managers were compelled to squeeze every last pound of white gold from their facilties to satisfy demand, whilst harassed (yet one suspects overjoyed) executives and engineers plotted a series of debottleneckings and expansions in order to increase capacities and keep pace with the consumers. A rash of such announcements ensued, with virtually no companies left untouched by this buoyant attitude and general air of optimism. Such was the frenzy of announcements, that within the space of a few months, global TiO_2 capacity had been talked up from around the 3.7m. tpa mark to a figure of 4.2m. by the end of 1998, with further increases planned to 2005 which could give a final tonnage of nearly 5.2m. tpa. It seemed that pigment manufacturers had decided that the tide had turned in their favour. "Carpe diem" seemed very much the vogue.