After the increase of titanium dioxide exports to capacity, the industry's popularity has not diminished
June 29, 2022
In the first half of this year, titanium dioxide rose madly. After all, what are the factors behind this crazy rise? First, the supply shortage, Huntsman shut down the installation of French titanium dioxide plant, the international market is tight, the impact of national environmental protection policies, domestic factories to limit production and maintenance, under dual pressure, the market has also become a matter of course. The second raw material titanium concentrate rose, the domestic downstream market support bullish mentality mostly, there is no lack of speculation ingredients.
The hot titanium dioxide market in the first half of the year can also be seen from customs data. According to the statistics provided by the General Administration of Customs, the import of titanium dioxide in China in August was 16,965.014 tons, an increase of 28.07% year-on-year and a decrease of 5.41% compared with the previous period. From January to August, the total amount of imported titanium dioxide was 149,437 tons, a year-on-year increase of 37.86%. In August, China exported 71,242 tons of titanium dioxide, which was an increase of 8.9% year-on-year and an increase of 3.5% from the previous month. From January to August, a total of 536,459 tons of titanium dioxide was exported, a year-on-year increase of 12.35%.
After the madness always needs to be calm, the rise of titanium dioxide, so many people see the profits, but the demand is not endless. As the market is hot, more manufacturers urgently need to increase production, but when the market cools, these stocks also become pressure. After a continuous decline in the titanium dioxide market, inventory has also begun to decline. By the beginning of September, the inventory of mainstream titanium dioxide in the country fell to 2000-7000 tons.
Inventories have declined, and traders have also seen hopes of rising prices. However, the market reflects that although the wave of this wave of enterprises in September has risen by 500 yuan/ton, actual corporate operations have not been implemented at 200–300 yuan/ton. And so on, the actual implementation of the situation is difficult to achieve expectations. The increase was caused by the reduction in the supply of domestic environmental protection production restrictions. On the other hand, after a wave of destocking (PS: exports from January to August increased by 12.35% year-on-year, this is not only an international market demand. The reason for this is also to reduce the performance of domestic enterprises with excess capacity, and inventory is reduced. However, due to the impact of the previous speculation, the market is still more or less cautious.
Speaking of capacity reduction, global titanium dioxide production capacity has reached 7.2 million tons since 2015, half of which is in China. Due to the long-term low-price competition in the industry, many companies suffered serious losses. In 2016, global titanium dioxide consumption increased by approximately 3%. At the same time, production capacity at home and abroad was synchronized, and the total withdrawal capacity was close to 800,000 tons during the year. Only small and medium sized titanium dioxide enterprises in China withdrew. The production capacity reached 365,000 tons.
Titanium dioxide is a highly polluting industry. Environmental protection policies continue to be under high pressure. SMEs with backward processes and serious pollution are forced to rectify, suspend production, limit production, and even permanently withdraw from production. This year, the great environmental protection has given people experience, which also accelerated the elimination of the industry's backward production capacity.
At present, the main applications of titanium dioxide: paint, plastics, inks, paper, of which paint accounted for 60%, plastics accounted for 20%, paper accounted for 14%, and other (including cosmetics, chemical fiber, electronics, ceramics, enamel, welding rods, alloys, Glass and other fields account for 6%. In the context of a rebound in the global housing industry, China's huge market has become a strong support for the titanium dioxide market.
In general, the heat of titanium dioxide is beyond doubt, but the market ultimately needs to be stable, and growth also needs to be rational.
