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The Prices of Titanium Ore and Titanium Oxide will Go Up while Those of Titanium Sponge and Fabricated Titanium Will Stay Flat For The Time Being

The prices of titanium ore and titanium oxide will go up while those of titanium sponge and titanium will stay flat for the time beingTitanium ore market remained rather calm and steady in February. Due to the reasons such as shipping suspension, corporate maintenance and few procurement demands etc., the market had seen nothing but joyous Spring Festival vibe early since two weeks before the holiday. Now the holiday is over, some companies that have come back to normal operation are just focusing on the orders made before the holiday while others won’t get their operation started until March. A few titanium oxide producers have made their early announcements of a rise in price after the holiday but titanium ore producers haven’t so the price remains the same as before the holiday.

In February, the price of high-grade rutile went up. Although so far, confusion exists in domestic rutile price, high-grade rutile from mainstream traders is still very strong in price as the development of chloride-process titanium dioxide greatly increases the demands of high-grade rutile. The price of 95%-grade rutile was RMB 7200~RMB 8000/ton (tax included); 90%-grade and 87%-grade rutile presented relatively small price fluctuations: 90%-grade rutile from Hainan was RMB 4600~RMB 4800/ton (tax excluded) and 87%-grade rutile from Vietnam was RMB 4400~RMB 4500/ton (tax excluded).

The price of chloride residue in February was at the same level as in January. The market demand was steady and downstream big companies were predominant with regard to pricing. As a result of low price and the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, chloride residue companies were a bit depressed in production initiative. We could see a favorable market demand of acid sludge and its price went up a bit by RMB 200/ton at the beginning of February. Estimation came that acid sludge price will continue to grow so some downstream companies hoped to get after-holiday orders in advance at the price of the beginning of February. However, taking consideration of further increase in raw material price after the holiday, acid sludge companies were not willing to get involved in large orders.

Similar to chloride residue market, downstream demand of titanium tetrachloride and its price were both very steady in February. Titanium sponge companies had been enjoying relatively low inventory because some companies suspended their operation before the holiday. Relieved financial pressure led to the companies’ wish to raise the price, which didn’t happen in this month due to the worry about the acceptance of downstream market.

Price of titanium dioxide went up in February. A dozen companies announced a rise in price before the holiday and some of them even raised the proportion of cash payment. Although the response of downstream market might pressure the up-going price trend for the time being but this trend is getting more overwhelming in after-holiday market, from which dealers that have increased their inventories will be benefited.

Right before the Spring Festival, a group of mainstream domestic titanium dioxide producers made announcements of a price increase for after-holiday market while Shanghai Pengbo and Huntsman also announced their price hike decisions after the holiday. The increase in titanium dioxide price both home and abroad has laid a great foundation for titanium ore market. On the other hand, after the holiday, the recovery of downstream demands will bring about a busy season that will fuel titanium ore demands. It is estimated that titanium ore demands will get better in March so its market price is likely to go up a bit.

It is reported that the great decrease in the ore import volume in second half of last year imposed a restriction on rutile output of domestic titanium ore beneficiation plants. Foreign companies have been increasing natural rutile price since Q3 last year, which led to larger gap between global market price and domestic price. Now, import price of 95 natural rutile is higher than domestic selling price so most companies are faced with challenging price inversion. Further consumption of domestic rutile stock will inevitably result in a rise in rutile price, catching up with global price.

Chlorination residue companies wish to raise the price but it pretty much is the buyers’ call because most procurement demands come from the very few big companies. Given that import volume of chlorination residue is growing, it’s still not easy for chlorination residue companies to get their wish fulfilled. If the price of titanium ore is raised indeed in March, the price of acid sludge will go up too so the cost can be passed on. Considering the upcoming busy season of downstream market after the holiday, we may be likely to see a rise in acid sludge price.

The price trends of Titanium tetrachloride and titanium sponge will be largely decided by cost of raw material, which means stable price of raw material won’t lead to a rise in their prices.The demands for titanium dioxide will grow as it’s getting warm and heating supply ends in Northern China. Its price may well go up based on those price-rise announcements made before the holiday. Production limitation period will come to an end so some Northern titanium dioxide companies will increase their output accordingly and when the time comes, we will see an increase in both volume and price.