The scientific name of Titanium Dioxide is titanium dioxide, which belongs to the titanium industry chain. It is a white hair powder solid obtained from titanium ore through sulfuric ACID method or chlorination method. It is the most superior white pigment in the world at present.
Titanium dioxide industry is the third largest inorganic chemical product after synthetic ammonia and phosphorus chemical industry.
The main raw materials for titanium dioxide production are titanium concentrate, rutile and titanium slag. The cost of upstream raw materials accounts for a large proportion of the production cost of titanium dioxide, and the cost of titanium ore accounts for the largest proportion.
The global demand for titanium dioxide is stable, and the global share of China's titanium dioxide production capacity is gradually increasing. About 92% of the global titanium resources (titanium concentrate, acid soluble titanium slag and high titanium slag) are used to produce titanium dioxide, so the distribution of titanium dioxide production capacity is highly related to the distribution of titanium resources.
The price change of titanium concentrate will have a certain impact on the cost of titanium dioxide production enterprises. The proven reserves of titanium resources in China have reached the first in the world, but the vanadium titanomagnetite in Sichuan is the main one, and the purity is low compared with foreign high-quality titanium placer.
Affected by the epidemic and the depletion of some mines, overseas titanium concentrate production has decreased, and the overall output of major domestic titanium concentrate producers has remained stable.
The downstream titanium dioxide market continues to improve. Titanium dioxide enterprises are producing at full capacity, and there is a strong demand for titanium concentrate. The supply and demand pattern of titanium concentrate continues to be tight, and the price of titanium concentrate continues to rise.
In China, high titanium slag is mainly distributed in Liaoning, Henan and other places, and acid soluble titanium slag is mainly distributed in Sichuan and Yunnan. The titanium resource reserves in Sichuan Province account for 90.4% of the total reserves in China. The above-mentioned provinces are also major producers of titanium dioxide in China.
In the field of end consumption, about 60% of titanium dioxide is used in the real estate industry and 20% in the automobile industry. Therefore, the prosperity of the real estate and automobile industries can be regarded as an important forward-looking indicator of titanium dioxide demand.
Titanium dioxide industry pattern: highly concentrated
According to tronox data, the global titanium dioxide market has entered a stable competition pattern.
Since the 1990s, after the continuous reshuffle of the titanium dioxide industry, the pattern of leading enterprises has been relatively clear. In the past 10 years, large changes in share have mainly occurred among large enterprises.
The production capacity of titanium dioxide industry is highly concentrated, presenting an oligopoly situation. The global titanium dioxide enterprises are mainly concentrated in the hands of Chemours,Tronox, Longbai group, venator and KRONOS, accounting for 58% of the global production capacity.
Under the dual catalysis of environmental protection inspection and supply side reform, small enterprises without competitive advantages gradually withdraw, further improving the industry concentration, and leading enterprises also gain more market share in this process.
Titanium dioxide in China is mainly concentrated in Central China, Northwest China and southwest China. After the merger and acquisition led by Longbai group, China has formed a supply pattern dominated by Longbai group, CNNC titanium dioxide, Doguide, Jinpu titanium industry, Pangang Group and other large groups. The production capacity of the above five titanium dioxide companies accounts for half of China's total production capacity.
Longbai group is the only enterprise with an annual production capacity of more than 600000 tons, ranking fourth in the world and first in Asia.
In addition, there are 10 large-scale enterprises with an annual output of more than 100000 tons of titanium dioxide, including pangang , CNNC titanium dioxide, China chemical industry, Doguide, Jinpu titanium, Jinhai titanium, Ningbo Xinfu, Dawn titanium, Jinmao titanium and Dahutong.
From the perspective of industry competitiveness, the number of enterprises in the titanium dioxide industry is decreasing. Under the background of supply side reform, it is not ruled out that backward small enterprises may continue to withdraw in the future, and the industry competitiveness is slowing down.
In addition to operating in the traditional chemical industry, many titanium dioxide enterprises have entered the new energy track. Under the background of strong demand for new energy vehicles, the prices of raw materials in the industrial chain have risen one after another.
At the same time, some titanium dioxide enterprises, such as Longbai group, CNNC titanium dioxide and anada, began to enter the new energy field to produce iron phosphate or lithium iron phosphate, realizing the coupling of titanium industry chain and new energy industry chain.
Titanium dioxide enterprises are expected to use by-products such as waste acid and ferrous sulfate as raw materials for iron phosphate production to greatly reduce production costs.
As titanium dioxide enterprises accelerate the layout of new energy cathode materials, the titanium dioxide industry chain is expected to usher in value revaluation.
Titanium dioxide process
In terms of titanium dioxide supply side, chlorination method is the main method in overseas, and sulfuric acid method is still the main method in China due to the influence of core technology and equipment.
The chlorination process is developed and applied by DuPont, which currently has the highest production capacity. The technology is relatively mature. More advanced chlorination processes are used by large foreign plants, accounting for more than 80%. At present, the chlorination technology is only mastered by a few large foreign companies and strictly protected.
However, due to the technical barriers of chlorination process in China, only Longbai group, Yibin Tianyuan, Jinzhou titanium industry, Yunnan Xinli (which has been acquired by Longbai group) and Luohe Xingmao have the capacity of mass production of chlorinated titanium dioxide.
The titanium dioxide produced by chlorination has better optical and chemical properties, and has the advantages of short production process, continuous operation, large scale of single series devices, etc. Considering the process and production safety, it is the general trend of the development of production methods in the titanium dioxide industry in the future.
From the perspective of capital barrier, titanium dioxide industry is a capital intensive industry. It needs to invest at least 200million yuan to build a new sulfuric acid plant with an annual output of 30000 tons. If the chlorination process is used, the equipment cost will be higher, and the total cost will reach 600million yuan.
In addition, the production cycle of chlorination process is relatively long, which generally takes at least 4-5 years. The 60000 ton chlorination process capacity of longmang Baili phase I took 4 years from construction to full production, and the chlorination process of Jinzhou titanium industry took 5 years. The longer investment period also puts forward higher requirements for the company's cash flow and financial status.
Based on the current situation of the dominant titanium dioxide process by sulfuric acid method in China, the main upstream raw materials affecting the price of titanium dioxide are titanium concentrate and concentrated sulfuric acid. In the sulfuric acid process, the average proportion of titanium concentrate, sulfuric acid and acid soluble titanium slag to the production cost is about 50%.
Most of these complete sets of chlorination equipment in China are imported from technology and then made through technology digestion, R & D and imitation. However, there is still a big gap in terms of operation cycle and product quality. At present, breakthroughs have been made in key technologies, but the mastery of technical details is still insufficient, and high-end products are still heavily dependent on imports.
In terms of environmental protection, among the downstream chemical products, pesticides, dyes and titanium dioxide are recognized as three fine molecule industries with serious pollution due to their long industrial chain and many intermediate products. In the future, with the continuous guidance of environmental protection policies, the proportion of chlorination with low energy consumption and low pollution will continue to increase.
China has reached a relatively mature level in cleaner production and post-treatment technology of sulfuric acid products, but there is still much room for development in tapping the potential of chlorination products.
At present, a large part of the continuous rise of titanium dioxide is due to the support of the cost side, such as the price of titanium concentrate. The further rise of titanium dioxide may stimulate the upstream titanium concentrate to raise the price again to pursue the downstream profits. As the upstream and downstream, the value transmission between titanium concentrate and titanium dioxide is two-way, and the characteristics of the domestic market determine that the pricing voice of titanium concentrate is stronger. In the future, it is necessary to continue to pay attention to the price trend of raw materials.
Since 2012, the capacity concentration of the top 13 titanium dioxide enterprises (mainly those with a capacity of ≥ 100000 tons) has been rising, and the increase in output concentration has become more obvious, which fully shows that large companies will benefit from the industry reshuffle. Judging from the development trend of the industry, the leading enterprise of titanium dioxide is always strong. In the future, its market share is expected to be further improved, and it will have greater pricing power and discourse power.
