Supply Disruptions Boost Titanium Dioxide Strength, Sponge Titanium Maintains Weak Balance [SMM Titanium Spot Market Update]

This week, domestic titanium dioxide prices: anatase titanium dioxide was quoted at 11,500-11,800 yuan/mt, with an average price of 11,650 yuan/mt; rutile titanium dioxide was quoted at 12,800-13,200 yuan/mt, with an average price of 13,000 yuan/mt. Grade 0 sponge titanium was quoted at 50,000-51,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 50,500 yuan/mt; Grade 1 sponge titanium was quoted at 48,000-50,000 yuan/mt, with an average price of 49,000 yuan/mt.

This week, the titanium dioxide and sponge titanium markets showed divergent trends. Titanium dioxide prices rose slightly, with market acceptance of previous price increases improving and trading activity showing some recovery. Due to a safety incident at a leading enterprise, sulphuric acid-based titanium dioxide facilities underwent full-line maintenance shutdowns, which is expected to significantly reduce national production this month. Coupled with persistently high sulphuric acid prices, cost support has strengthened, and sulphuric acid-based product prices are expected to remain firm. Demand side, recovery is anticipated by month-end September, with growing bullish sentiment in the market.

In contrast, the sponge titanium market remained generally stable this week. Supply side continued proactive production cuts to digest previous surplus capacity, leading to ongoing production contraction. Meanwhile, raw material titanium slag prices continued to decline, resulting in weak cost support. Demand side, the downstream titanium materials market remained sluggish. Although demand began to slowly recover after entering September, the overall market still showed weak supply and demand. Sponge titanium prices are expected to continue fluctuating rangebound.