Industry Overview
1. Definition and classification of titanium dioxide
Titanium dioxide is an important inorganic chemical pigment, mainly composed of titanium dioxide. There are two production processes for titanium dioxide: sulfuric acid method and chlorination method. Titanium dioxide has important applications in industries such as coatings, inks, papermaking, plastics and rubber, chemical fibers, ceramics, etc.
Titanium dioxide products can be divided into chloride titanium dioxide and sulfuric acid titanium dioxide according to production processes, and can be roughly divided into two categories of products: rutile titanium dioxide and anatase titanium dioxide.
2. Analysis of the Industrial Chain
The upstream of the titanium dioxide industry chain is raw materials, including ilmenite, titanium concentrate, rutile, vanadium titanium magnetite, etc; The midstream refers to titanium dioxide products, which are classified into chloride titanium dioxide and sulfuric acid titanium dioxide according to the extraction method used; Downstream is the application field of titanium dioxide, which is widely used in various fields such as coatings, plastics, papermaking, inks, rubber, etc.
From the perspective of participating enterprises in the titanium dioxide industry chain, upstream participating enterprises mainly include Anning Shares, Oriental Zirconia Industry, Liyu Mining, etc; The midstream titanium dioxide manufacturing enterprises mainly include LB Group, Jinpu Titanium Industry, pangang Titanium Co., Ltd., Anada, etc; Down stream application enterprises mainly include coating companies such as Feiyang Technology and Sankeshu, plastic manufacturing companies such as Jinfa Technology and Pulite, and paper companies such as Sun Paper and Shanying International.
Industry Development History
In recent decades, China's titanium dioxide industry has been developing since the 1950s and has gone through more than 70 years. China's titanium dioxide industry completed technological accumulation and precipitation in the last century, and began to introduce foreign industrial production lines for titanium dioxide production at the end of the 20th century.
At present, China's titanium dioxide industry has formed a complete and reasonable industrial system, and at the same time, China has begun to transform towards energy conservation and environmental protection in the chemical industry. Overall, the development process of China's titanium dioxide can be summarized into the following six stages:
Industry policy background
There were many policies related to the titanium dioxide industry introduced between 2011 and 2013, mainly focusing on key technological breakthroughs and supporting the comprehensive utilization of vanadium titanium magnetite. In recent years, with the gradual breakthrough of key technologies in this chemical product, policy guidance has shifted towards environmental protection, such as encouraging the high-quality utilization of these resources, improving deep processing, and enhancing industrial water efficiency.
From the development layout of the titanium dioxide industry in various provinces and cities across the country, in recent years, the relevant policies for the titanium dioxide industry issued by various provinces and cities mainly focus on the development of high-end chloride titanium dioxide and sulfuric acid titanium dioxide, with the transformation direction of high-performance, refined, and green chemical products, and the key development of chemical materials such as titanium dioxide.
Industry Development Status
1. Industry supply analysis: The comprehensive output of Chinese titanium dioxide enterprises in 2023 is 4.16 million tons
In recent years, with the continuous improvement of titanium dioxide production capacity, the annual output of titanium dioxide has also increased year by year. From 2017 to 2023, China's titanium dioxide production has shown an upward trend. According to the Secretariat of Technology Innovation Strategy for the Titanium Dioxide Industry and the Titanium Dioxide Center of the Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, the comprehensive output of Chinese titanium dioxide enterprises in 2023 will be 4.16 million tons, an increase of 250000 tons or 6.30% from the previous year.
According to the titanium dioxide industry technology innovation strategic alliance and the titanium dioxide sub center of the Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, in 2023, among the total amount of 4.16 million tons of titanium dioxide and related products, rutile products accounted for 3.6 million tons, accounting for 86.53% of the total output, an increase of 3.22 percentage points from the previous year; The amount of titanium dioxide produced was 420000 tons, accounting for 10.10% of the total output, a decrease of 2.3 percentage points from the previous year; Non pigment grade and other types of products amounted to 140000 tons, accounting for 3.37%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from the previous year.
2. Industry demand analysis: The apparent demand for titanium dioxide industry in China in 2023 is 2.605 million tons
The apparent demand for titanium dioxide in China's titanium dioxide industry has shown an overall upward trend from 2017 to 2021, with a slight decrease in the past two years. According to the Secretariat of Technology Innovation Strategy for the Titanium Dioxide Industry and the Titanium Dioxide Center of the Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center, the apparent demand for titanium dioxide in China in 2023 is 2.605 million tons, with a per capita of 1.86 kilograms, which is about 55% of the per capita level in developed countries.
Note: Apparent demand=Production+Import - Export
3. Industry market size: The market size of titanium dioxide in China in 2023 is approximately 43.2 billion yuan
In recent years, the price of titanium dioxide in China has shown an increasing trend, rising from about 13350 yuan/ton in 2019 to about 20200 yuan/ton in 2021. Subsequently, the average price of titanium dioxide in China has fallen slightly in the following two years, reaching about 18890 yuan/ton in 2023. According to the comprehensive calculation of the apparent demand for titanium dioxide in China and the average price of titanium dioxide in China, the market size of titanium dioxide in China in 2023 is about 43.2 billion yuan.
According to the comprehensive calculation of China's titanium dioxide production and the average price of titanium dioxide in China, the output value of titanium dioxide in China in 2023 is about 69 billion yuan.
Industry competition pattern
1. The competitive landscape of Chinese titanium dioxide enterprises
According to the production and sales volume of titanium dioxide products in enterprises, they can be divided into three competitive tiers. Among them, Longbai Group is one of the enterprises with an annual production and sales volume of titanium dioxide greater than 100000 tons; Enterprises with an annual production and sales volume of 200000 to 500000 tons of titanium dioxide include China National Nuclear Corporation Titanium Dioxide and Vanadium Titanium Co., Ltd; The remaining annual production and sales volume is below 200000 tons.
Analysis of titanium dioxide production and sales volume disclosed by various listed titanium dioxide companies. In 2023, Longbai Group had the highest production and sales volume of titanium dioxide, with a production and sales volume of 1.1914 million tons and 1.1589 million tons respectively. From the perspective of operating revenue from titanium dioxide business, Longbai Group's titanium dioxide business revenue exceeds 15 billion yuan, ranking first; China Nuclear Titanium Dioxide ranks second with a value of 4.31 billion yuan.
2. Regional competition pattern of titanium dioxide in China
According to the Chinese enterprise database Qichamao, currently registered titanium dioxide enterprises in China are mainly concentrated in Guangdong Province. As of April 2024, there are about 700 titanium dioxide industry enterprises in Guangdong Province, ranking first. Representative titanium dioxide enterprises in Guangdong Province include Huiyun Titanium Industry, Jimei Refining, and Jiabao Chemical. In addition, there are a relatively high number of titanium dioxide industry enterprises in Hebei Province, Shandong Province, and Guangxi Province.
Industry development prospects and trend prediction
Based on the information analysis disclosed by the Titanium Dioxide Industry Technology Innovation Strategic Alliance, China's economy has shown a clear downward trend in recent years and has entered a period of medium to low-speed development. Although the announced GDP for 2023 increased by 5.2% year-on-year, the overall economic situation is well known, and the effect of relying on domestic demand to drive the titanium dioxide market in the short term is very limited. In addition, the current titanium dioxide industry is also classified as an industry with strict control over overcapacity, profit reduction, and the need for energy-saving and carbon reduction transformation and upgrading. In the process of rectification and upgrading, it is bound to have a certain impact on the industry's growth rate, and the industry is expected to grow at a relatively slow pace. Based on the historical scale changes and economic trends of the titanium dioxide industry, it is estimated that the market size of the titanium dioxide industry will be approximately 46 billion yuan in 2029, with an average annual compound growth rate of 1.1%.
