The titanium dioxide industry is fully integrated

In the first 9 months of this year, the price of titanium dioxide in China basically fell unilaterally. Although the international giants have raised their prices one after another, the shutdown of some production capacity has improved the relationship between supply and demand, and the recovery in international demand has also led to a slight increase in exports. However, the export of titanium dioxide is a trend of increasing volume and decreasing prices. Industry experts believe that the titanium dioxide market has reached the most difficult period. With the environmental protection threshold gradually increasing, the titanium dioxide industry will be fully integrated. Accelerating the pace of mergers and reorganizations and increasing the promotion of cleaner production processes will be the trend of the times.

Sluggish Demand Market Depression Affected by the international and domestic economic environment, China's titanium dioxide industry has gradually fallen into recession since the second quarter of 2012, the longest low period since 1998.

According to Bi Sheng, Secretary General of the Titanium Dioxide Industrial Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance and Director of the Titanium Dioxide Center of the National Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, due to the shrinkage of the major downstream markets, the demand and price of China's titanium dioxide market continued to drop this year, and the price of rutile products has increased. At the time of the previous year's high of 23,000 to 24,000 yuan (t price, the same below), the price dropped linearly to 13,000 to 14,000 yuan in the middle of this year, a drop of 40%, and the actual transaction price of a few enterprises was even lower than 13,000 yuan; anatase products were About 18,000 yuan fell steeply to 11,000 to 12,000 yuan, and the price cut was as high as 1/3. The market was in a depression. Some integrated manufacturers maintain low-profit operations by integrating their own procurement platforms and strengthening cost control. However, there are still more and more manufacturers in China that have lost more than 60 companies. From the end of August to September, the market situation improved slightly. Some companies adjusted their prices as appropriate, but due to the gradual release of production capacity, the price trend remained weak.

Since the beginning of this year, the “cold stream” in the international market has not diminished, and the multinational giants have seized the domestic market one after another. Although the prices are shouting out, the actual operation has not boosted the domestic titanium dioxide market. According to the statistics provided by the General Administration of Customs, exports in the first 10 months showed a downward trend for four months, while imports showed a growth pattern for six months, with more negative factors than bullish factors. Bi Sheng told reporters that overall, this year is the most difficult period for the titanium dioxide market.

M&A Trends Along with the drastic changes in the market and the severe environmental protection situation, in the past two years, as many as 10 small- and micro-titanium enterprises with no long-term development have been shut down, dismantled, or are in a state of basic production or semi-discontinuation. . With Panzhihua's first titanium dioxide plant, Panzhihua Steel's titanium manufacturing plant, closed due to environmental protection and cost pressures in the seven-year period this year, there are only 48 manufacturers remaining in the industry. The total number of normal production plants is 55. Doping disorder chaos has improved to some extent.

According to experts, at present, China's titanium dioxide enterprises are shifting from an extensive business model to an intensive and intensive production and operation model. Shandong Dongjia Group, Zhongnan Hunan Zhuzhou Chemical Group, Wuhan Qingjiang Chemical Co., Ltd., and China Bluestar The nine major group-based manufacturers such as chemical, Pangang Group Titanium Industry Co., Ltd. and Sichuan Longxi Titanium Industry have already owned more than two production plants. According to foreign experience, the merger and reorganization of the titanium dioxide industry is a major trend. At present, it is estimated that more than 80% of the enterprises in the country are in a state of loss. It is expected that some small and medium-sized titanium dioxide enterprises will gradually fade out in the next two years. In the next 5 to 10 years, the merger and reorganization of enterprises will be more frequent, and there will be 3 to 5 titanium dioxide enterprises with 300,000 tons or more in China.

Environmental protection into the foundation for the survival of the enterprise The 2012 titanium dioxide industry operating rate is approximately 72.7%. In the first nine months of this year, prices were dragged down, sales of titanium dioxide were sluggish, and the operating rate was low. At present, the operating rate of the whole industry is basically maintained at 60%-70%, and the operating rate of enterprises with dismal operation is even less than 40%. Even so, most companies’ inventory remains high. Under the background that market demand is unlikely to increase sharply in the future, overcapacity and the imbalance between supply and demand in the market will become even more pronounced.

At present, the domestic TiO2 production process still accounts for the vast majority, and its biggest drawback is the large amount of “three wastes”. In particular, in the current sluggish market, the environmental protection cost per ton of titanium dioxide products is even higher. Corporate profits. Recently, the pollution problem of titanium dioxide companies has been pushed to the top of the cusp. Experts believe that although these events involve only individual companies, they will certainly have adverse effects on the industry as a whole and will inevitably affect the country’s industrial policy and hurdles. Environmental protection will become the foundation for the future survival of titanium dioxide enterprises.

Of course, the industry has achieved some successes in the processing and comprehensive utilization of the “three wastes”, and there have been a variety of “co-production” cleaner production models. However, the reporter learned at the meeting that most of these "linked production law" industry chains have strong companies or industrial characteristics of the region where the company is located. They have strong limitations, and they may be difficult to popularize and promote to the industry in the short term.