Titanium dioxide: the new production capacity in the future will be dominated by the chloride process

     In 2017, the titanium dioxide industry was affected by environmental protection policy, and some companies that did not meet the standards were restricted from starting operations, while more companies with a production capacity of less than 50,000 tons were eliminated. The integration of the titanium dioxide industry was further accelerated. In addition to the environmental inspections of the local government, the central environmental protection inspection team has successively settled in various provinces and cities; after the safety inspection, the operating rate of titanium ore, the main raw material of titanium dioxide, was operating at a low level, and the supply of raw materials was once tight; Lomon Billions, the largest titanium dioxide enterprise in China, The connection is connected to the local government's notice of production restriction and emission restriction, from September 2017 to March 15, 2018, the production is restricted by 30%. Coincidentally, last year, many titanium dioxide enterprises in Shandong, Anhui, Guangxi, Sichuan, etc. had measures to stop production, limit production and discharge at different time periods.

       In 2017, the production structure of titanium dioxide in my country is still dominated by the sulfuric acid method, and the production capacity of the chloride method only accounts for 7.5%. China still needs to import about 200,000 tons of titanium dioxide every year, mainly for some high-end titanium dioxide including plastic, paper, ink and other special titanium dioxide. Zhongyu Information predicts that the new production capacity in 2018 will be about 755,000 tons, mainly for the chlorination process equipment with strong market competitiveness. It is expected that the production capacity and output of chlorination process titanium dioxide will increase in the future. In 2018, the planned chlorination processed units will account for 20% of the domestic production capacity of titanium dioxide, which is far from the international production capacity of chlorination process, which accounts for 66%. Therefore, the development of chlorination process titanium dioxide in China is a long way to go.

      Under the supply-side reform and the 13th Five-Year Plan, the next three years will be a critical period for the development of titanium dioxide in domestic market (2020 is the last year of the 13th Five-Year Plan). According to the statistics of Zhongyu Information, the chloride process production capacity planned to be put into operation in  next three years will be 1.01 million tons, accounting for 75% of the newly added production capacity, will account for about 27%. It is believed that under the guidance of national policies and market economy, the concentration of Chinese titanium dioxide industry will be further strengthened, the strong alliances between enterprises will break through technical difficulties, and the proportion of high-quality products will increase, which will further enhance the competitiveness of our country's titanium dioxide enterprises in the international market.