Updated to mid-November 2009
Asian market review by Hunwei Ng, ICIS pricing
Asian titanium dioxide (TiO2) prices rose 3.4% to $2,310-2,500/tonne CFR (cost and freight) Asia in the quarter ending mid-November, buoyed by recovering demand across Asia. Production cuts implemented earlier in the year and persistently declining inventory levels helped to exert strong upward pressure on prices, market players said.
European market review by Stephanie Wilson, ICIS pricing
Prices in the European TiO2 market continued their upwards movement of previous quarters although progress for suppliers was slow.
Producers remained adamant that further hikes were necessary if they were to survive the tightening financial conditions. However, consumers would not concede, rebuffing numerous attempts to raise prices by €100/tonne and accepting only a €30/tonne increase.
This left the market prices (encompassing both contract and spot business) pegged at €2.13-2.30/kg FD (free delivered) NWE (northwest Europe).
Looking ahead, sellers were optimistic that dramatic cuts to operating rates and recovery in demand would help them to achieve the full targeted €100/tonne hike before the year end, but one or two did concede that this drive for an increase might continue into the New Year.
Looking ahead, it was clear that December would be a slow month but sellers were optimistic that restocking in January would aid them to push further hikes on to buyers as the general economy, particularly in Asia, was showing some signs of recovery.
US market review by Larry Terry, ICIS pricing
The North American TiO2 market saw more contract price-increase proposals of 5-7 cents/lb ($110-154/tonne) in the three-month period leading up to mid-November. However, only at the end of the period did some mid-sized buyers begin to acknowledge that suppliers had finally succeeded in gaining some of the 5 cents/lb hikes proposed in mid-summer.
Most buyers said the newest initiatives would not meet with success until perhaps the first quarter of 2010.
The largest buyers in the architectural coatings market said seasonally slower fourth-quarter paints and coatings sales, stable energy costs and few constraints on ilmenite and other raw materials meant there was little or no rationale for fourth-quarter price hikes.
Significant capacity - 550,000 tonne/year by one assessment - had been taken out of the global market by late in the third quarter in response to poor economic conditions, producers said. In addition, production rates had been ratcheted up again after customer destocking earlier in the year, keeping price pressure intact.
The North American range of 109-119 cents/lb ($2,403-2,623/tonne) had not moved up by the end of the period, but since product was heard still available to larger buyers at 109 cents/lb, only the high end of the range was expected to rise by 3-5 cents/lb.
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Titanium dioxide
Uses and Outlook
The main use of titanium dioxide (TiO2) is as a white powder pigment because of its brightness and very high refractive index. It provides good opacity to products such as paints, coatings, plastics, paper, inks, fibres, food and cosmetics. In particular, high performance grades of TiO2 are finding a growing market in the cosmetics sector.
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Titanium dioxide
Process Technologies
TiO2 is produced from either ilmenite, rutile or titanium slag. Titanium pigment is extracted by using either sulphuric acid (sulphate process) or chlorine (chloride route). The sulphate process employs simpler technology than the chloride route and can use lower grade, cheaper ores. However, it generally has higher production costs and with acid treatment is more expensive to build than a chloride plant. But the latter may require the construction of a chloralkali unit.
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