China titanium dioxide industry chain analysis: downstream demand driven production continued to rise

一、industry chain

Titanium dioxide is an important inorganic chemical pigment, the main component is titanium dioxide. The production process of titanium dioxide has two kinds of process routes: sulfuric acid method and chlorination method, and there are two main types of titanium dioxide, including anatase titanium dioxide and rutile titanium dioxide. The main raw materials of titanium dioxide are titanium concentrate, chlorine gas, sulfuric acid, rutile and petroleum coke. The main downstream industries of titanium dioxide are coatings, paper, ink, plastics, rubber and chemical fibers.

 二、Midstream analysis

With the continuous improvement of people’s material living standards, the downstream industries of titanium dioxide such as coatings, plastics and paper making continue to develop, and China has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of titanium dioxide.

From 2017 to 2022, the production and apparent demand of titanium dioxide in China will continue to expand. In 2017, the production of titanium dioxide in China was 2.87 million tons, and the apparent demand was 2.55 million tons. In 2022, the production of titanium dioxide was 3.907 million tons, an increase of 2.44% over the output in 2021, and the apparent demand was 2.624 million tons.

With the continuous expansion of China’s titanium dioxide production, better meet the needs of the domestic market, China’s titanium dioxide exports show a continuous growth trend, on the contrary, the number of titanium dioxide imports showed a declining trend, the number of exports more than the number of imports. The export quantity of titanium dioxide in China increased from 829,900 tons in 2019 to 1.4058 million tons in 2022; The number of imports of titanium dioxide in China dropped from 215,000 tons in 2017 to 123,100 tons in 2022.

The paper industry is the third largest user of titanium dioxide, as a paper filler, mainly used in high-grade paper and thin paper. Adding titanium dioxide to the paper can make the paper have better whiteness, good luster, high strength, thin and smooth, not penetrate when printing, and light weight.

From 2017 to 2022, the operating income of China’s paper and paper products showed a trend of fluctuation, and the operating income of paper and paper products dropped to 1,301.3 billion yuan in 2020, and recovered to 1,522.9 billion yuan in 2022, an increase of 1.53% compared with 2021.

The chemical fiber industry is an important application field of titanium dioxide, and titanium dioxide for chemical fibers is mainly used as a matting agent. Because anatase titanium dioxide is softer than gold red titanium dioxide, anatase titanium dioxide is generally used.

Titanium dioxide is also an indispensable white pigment in advanced inks. The ink containing titanium dioxide is durable and does not change color, has good surface wettability and is easy to disperse. The titanium dioxide used in the ink industry has rutile titanium dioxide and anatase titanium dioxide. Similarly, China’s ink production in 2017-2021 has also gradually increased, from 48.77 million tons in 2017 to 67.08 million tons in 2021.

Titanium dioxide in the rubber industry as a colorant, but also has the role of reinforcing, anti-aging, filling and so on. Titanium dioxide is added to white and colored rubber products. Under sunlight, it is sun-resistant, non-cracking, non-discoloration, and the elongation is greater than acid and alkali resistance. Data show that 2017-2022 China’s synthetic rubber production has increased year by year, from 5.92 million tons in 2017 to 8.23 million tons in 2022.

（This article comes from the network Zhiyan consulting）