Resumen de Tight supply of high-grade titanium feedstock to impede pigment production in Europe
Production of rutile and titanium dioxide slag has gone down, with potentially serious consequences for chloride output in Europe.
Pigment producers in Europe are facing a shortage of the rutile and titanium slag feedstocks needed for making high-grade titanium, after a decline in supplies of both materials from Australia, Canada and South Africa.
The tightened supply of rutile largely reflects a decrease in output from Iluka’s closed Murray Basin operations in Australia, while availability, current prices and contracts are already being affected by Tronox’s announcement that it will remove around 20,000 tonnes per year of rutile and leucoxene from the market by the end of 2018.
Additionally, the imminent closure of Sibelco’s Stradbroke Island mine in Australia will remove as much as 35,000 tpy of rutile from the market by 2020.
The recent supply tightness has triggered a rise in rutile prices for the third quarter of 2018.
