Price-Holding in Peak Season Faces Resistance; Titanium Dioxide Maintains a Strongly Contested Pattern [SMM Titanium Spot Express]

SMM, September 22:  

SMM, September 22: The SMM titanium dioxide index was reported at 14,059 yuan/mt. Mainstream quotations for rutile titanium dioxide in the market were 12,500-14,800 yuan/mt, with an average price of 13,650 yuan/mt; quotations for anatase titanium dioxide were 12,000-13,000 yuan/mt, and for chloride-process titanium dioxide were 15,300-16,800 yuan/mt. Titanium dioxide prices remained stable overall today.

The titanium dioxide market remained steady today. On the supply side, earlier price increases had not yet been fully transmitted to spot prices. Producers held prices firm with strong intent, and some orders were already scheduled into October. However, downstream coatings and plastics enterprises remained cautious, mostly maintaining purchases of small volumes for immediate needs. Large-scale restocking did not occur. Traders made moderate stockpiles at lower prices, and inventory shifted from factories to end-users. Meanwhile, enterprises that had previously cut production resumed operations modestly, and industry operating rates rebounded. In the short term, insufficient growth in real end-user demand left the market in a standoff of "hard to fall, hard to rise sharply."