Titanium Dioxide Market: Flat Performance in the Traditional Peak Season

Introduction: In H1 September, Chinese titanium dioxide producers raised prices by around RMB 500/mt. The buying interest inched up. In mid-September, the purchasing went to a climax. In H2 September, the demand seems to be flat.

Influenced by the environmental protection supervision, the supply in Shandong and Sichuan declined obviously. The output decreased by around 90kt in total. Up to early September, the overall inventory declined to 2,000-7,000mt. Given the decreasing inventory and the traditional peak demand season, TITANIUM dioxide producers raised prices.

According to ECHEMI, though producers raised offers by RMB 500/mt, the market prices just increased by RMB 200-300/mt. First, the major reason for this increase was not the support from the demand. The decreasing inventory boosted the increases in Titanium Dioxide. Secondly, the titanium dioxide prices were high currently and the profits were satisfactory. Finally, most players wanted to hype the market via this increase, and the downstream users mostly purchased goods on a need-to basis.

As for the coming market, the demand will remain weak on the coming China’s National Day holiday. Most downstream users have enough inventories to consume. As for the export market, the export volume is increasing slowly, especially the European market. Though the export prices decline, the export volume remains firm.

After the National Day holiday, the titanium dioxide inventory will increase. The environmental protection is still the key problem, so the overall operating rate will not be high. Moreover, the titanium concentrate market is firm, which will support the Titanium Dioxide market. ECHEMI estimated that the Chinese titanium dioxide market will be largely stable in September as the demand will not boom in the traditional “golden September and silver October” .