China’s Titanium Dioxide Industry to Upgrade

By Ren Min, Bi Sheng, Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center of China, Titanium Dioxide Branch

Domestic coatings and papermaking enterprises risk breaking increasingly strict environmental protection regulations in the process of development, so product upgrades are inevitable, posing a new challenge for titanium dioxide firms, which have also to provide higher-quality goods to meet new requirements.

Low prices

Rutile titanium dioxide prices remained low in the first four months of 2014, hitting a bottom of RMB12 000/t. In May, the prices started to rebound. Take Sichuan Lomon Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. (SLTI) as an example. After increasing five times from April to August, SLTI’s average price of rutile titanium dioxide reached RMB13 860/t in October. However, as China’s titanium dioxide export was greatly curbed by anemic demand in the European market in November, SLTI decreased titanium dioxide prices by RMB300/t at the beginning of the month, by RMB500/t in mid-November, and by RMB300/t in late November.
Prices of anatase titanium dioxide were relatively stable, due to smaller export volume and more severe competition among producers.

Increasing foreign trade

From January to October 2014, the volume of imported titanium dioxide rose 10.7% YOY to 175 kt, and the export volume surged 43.0% YOY to 467.6 kt, with export prices declining in the first five months and tending to stabilize from May to August.

Postponed projects

If titanium dioxide projects that were kicked off two or three years ago and boast a total capacity of 1.6-1.8 million t/a, were to be completed on schedule, domestic titanium dioxide capacity will soar to 4.2-4.4 million t/a by 2015. As a matter of fact, most of them were postponed, suspended or canceled, except limited ones adopting chlorination process or sulfuric acid method. Titanium dioxide plants employing the sulfuric acid method and completed in 2013 and put into commercial production in 2014 include only those constructed by Ningbo Xinfu Titanium Dioxide Co., Ltd., Panzhihua Dongfang Titanium Industry Co., Ltd., Guangxi Jinmao Titanium Co., Ltd., Henan Billions Chemicals Co., Ltd., Guangxi Dahua Chemical Factory and CNNC Hua Yuan Titanium Dioxide Co., Ltd. Furthermore, an 80 kt/a titanium dioxide project of Xuzhou Titanium Dioxide Chemical Co., Ltd. and a 100 kt/a project of Anhui Jinxing Titanium Dioxide (Group) Co., Ltd. were finished in 2014 and are to be put into production in 2015.

Inevitable industrial upgrading

In the past two years, a number of small titanium dioxide enterprises suspended production or were permanently shut down. A total of 56 plants are currently in normal operation. Therefore, industrial consolidation is necessary. On September 8, 2014, Henan Billions purchased the TR52 titanium dioxide business of Huntsman; on September 23, CNNC Hua Yuan purchased 100% of the shares of Gansu Dongfang Titanium Industry Co., Ltd.; on October 27, Cristal, the world’s third largest titanium dioxide producer announced its intent to purchase the titanium dioxide business of Jiangxi Tikon Titanium Co., Ltd.
New environmental protection laws became effective on January 1, 2015, forcing titanium dioxide enterprises to work harder to save energy, reduce their impact on the environment and develop new technologies.

Main direction: chlorination-process titanium dioxide

Although the chlorination process is a major trend, setting up large-scale production requires quite a long time because of insufficient core technologies. At present, only three Chinese chlorination-process plants exist and all are in trial production – constructed by Yunnan Xinli Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd., Jinzhou Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. and Henan Luohe City Xingmao Titanium Industry Co., Ltd., respectively. In addition, Henan Billions’ 60 kt/a project with the chlorination process will be completed and put into trial production at the beginning of 2015.
The sulfuric acid method is a basic way to produce titanium dioxide in China. Enterprises adopting this method need to ensure clean production, reduce operating costs and upgrade products through technical innovation.

Prospects

Titanium dioxide is widely used in many areas. In the next three to five years, the titanium dioxide industry is expected to grow 5%-10% annually.