[industry observation] Titanium dioxide enterprises start to rise again, supply-side technological innovation introduces a big reshuffle in the supply-side industry.

According to recent reports, from July 1, Como will increase the price of all specifications of Ti-Pure titanium dioxide purchased in Greater China by 200USD (about 1276 yuan / ton). Konos (KRONOS) also announced that from July 1st, the company will increase the price of all titanium dioxide products by at least 250,220,300 US dollars (about 2000 yuan / ton). In addition, pan-energy (Venator) announced an increase in the global price of all titanium dioxide (titanium dioxide) pigments used in paints, plastics, inks and paper from July 1.

Since the beginning of this year, the price of titanium dioxide has continued to rise, as of June 3, SMM rutile titanium dioxide reached 21250 yuan / ton, according to recent SMM research, the current titanium concentrate orders hanging upside down is more common, downstream demand continues to be strong, at the same time, the upstream medium mine production enterprises operating rate is insufficient, the supply of raw materials remains tight, considering that overseas shipping affected by the epidemic is limited to the port, it is expected that the new order price of titanium concentrate will continue to rise.

"Click to view the historical price of SMM Metals.

In terms of titanium dioxide, as the price of titanium dioxide has risen for five consecutive months this year, the downstream cost side continues to be under pressure, with the arrival of the traditional off-season, the continuous rise of titanium dioxide market may be restrained. Some factories said that at this stage, raw material prices continue to rise, order production is more common, SMM believes that in the case of two-way support of demand and supply, titanium dioxide prices will continue to rise.

"Click to see more analysis:" SMM Titanium spot Weekly Review (2021.5.24-2021.5.28) "

The demand for titanium dioxide is growing steadily, and the supply side will usher in technological innovation, monopoly of leading enterprises and accelerated reshuffle under policy tightening. Southwest Securities pointed out that the main application fields of titanium dioxide downstream are coatings and plastics, the demand is closely related to the macro-economy, and will continue to grow steadily in the future. The evolution of the industry pattern lies in the change of the supply side. At present, the sulfuric acid process abroad has shown a gradual withdrawal trend, the giants are mainly chlorination products, this process uses continuous production technology, low emissions of three wastes and high product purity; the titanium dioxide technology in China is mainly sulfuric acid process. Sulfuric acid method can not achieve continuous production, complex process and high cost of environmental protection, while the proportion of chlorination process manufacturers in 2020 is only 11.7%.

Southwest Securities believes that the chlorination process will gradually become the mainstream process in China's titanium dioxide industry, and the middle-end chlorination process will gradually replace the market share of some small and medium-sized sulfuric acid titanium dioxide enterprises. the market of high-end chlorination process will be fully monopolized by leading enterprises such as CITIC Titanium Industry, Longyanbaili, Vanadium and Titanium of Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Recently, the large-scale layout of dragon python and medium-core titanium dioxide sulfuric acid process has proved that titanium dioxide in the future sulfuric acid process will be more strong.