Friday, June 28, 2013

DuPont and Tronox lead the third wave of TiO2 price increases in 2013

TiO2 prices are increasing again! On May 30, 2013, both DuPont and Tronox announced a TiO2 price increase. It was the third wave of TiO2 price increases by international TiO2 giants in the year so far. The first wave occurred at around the end of Feb. 2013, led by Kronos, Huntsman, Cristal and ISK. The second wave came on May 9, 2013, led by Kronos. Relatively speaking, DuPont and Tronox acted more prudently in their price increase strategy, according to TiO2 China Monthly Report issued by CCM in June.
 
In detail, Tronox announced that the prices of its TiO2 products sold in Latin America and Asia Pacific will be raised by a minimum of USD175/t; those sold in Japan will be raised by a minimum of USD228/t; those sold in Europe, Middle East and Africa will be raised by a minimum of USD162.5/t or USD175/t in US Dollar markets; those sold in North America will be raised by a minimum of USD132.3/t. The announcement will become effective on June 1, 2013 or as contracts allow. At the same time, DuPont also announced that the prices for DuPont™ Ti-Pure® TiO2 sold in Asia Pacific and Latin America will be raised by USD200/t; those sold in Euro zone markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be raised by about USD208/t or USD200/t in US Dollar markets; those sold in North America, in addition to paper and paperboard applications, will be raised by about USD176.4/t. The announcement will become effective on July 1, 2013 or as contracts allow.
 
The condition of the domestic TiO2 market is quite different from overseas TiO2 market. In mid-May, domestic rutile TiO2 was sold at around USD2,600/t, decreasing by about 15% compared to that in mid-Jan. 2013, ignoring the consecutive price increase announcement of international TiO2 giants. The real estate industry recovery in the U.S. and widespread production reduction of TiO2 producers in 1Q 2013 caused the international giants to hold an optimistic view in anticipation of booming TiO2 demand in the future, driving them to announce price increases again and again. While the domestic TiO2 market heavily depends on the consumption of domestic downstream industries, as the de-stocking process has been progressing and the current domestic TiO2 selling prices are close to the unit production cost, it is estimated that the domestic TiO2 market might touch the bottom around July this year.

Table of Contents of TiO2 China Monthly Report 1306:
Editor's notes
Headlines of this issue
Industrial Information
Import volume of TiO2 was up 15.70% while export volume was down 13.00% in
April 2013
Total titanium feedstock supply volume was flat in April compared with that in March
Domestic TiO2 price still in a downtrend in June 2013
Company dynamics
Shandong Dongjia is undergoing the "reply to feedback" process under its IPO 
application
DuPont and Tronox lead the third wave of TiO2 price increases in 2013
Tianzhu Peng: lower electricity price can benefit the TiO2 production in Panzhihua Vanadium & Titanium Industrial Base
Upstream
Hong Kong Guangxin defaulted on the ilmenite trade contract signed with Zero-seven
Downstream
Valspar to acquire European Industrial Coatings Company Inver Group
Housing prices rose in May although state control remained stringent
Domestic automobile production in the first five months of 2013 increased by
13.49% YoY

Titanium Dioxide China Monthly Report, issued by CCM on 25th, is mainly comprised of five columns of news and reports related to TiO2 market, including “Supply & Demand”, “Company Dynamics”, “Upstream”, “Downstream” and “Price Update”. You can find out more business opportunities through the latest and helpful information provided in the report.

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