Recently, in the face of Australia, Canada and South Africa and other major producers of high-grade rutile and titanium slag production decline, European pigment manufacturers are facing a shortage of titanium raw materials.

The closure of ILUKA in the Murray Basin has resulted in 20,000 tonnes of rutile and leucoilite being removed from the market this year, which is reflected in the results announced by titanium dioxide producer Tronox. The impending closure of Sibelco's Stradbroke Island project will also remove an additional 35,000 tonnes of rutile from the market by 2020.

Tight supply triggered a rise in rutile prices in the third quarter of this year. According to the data published by Industrial Minerals, from July 5 to mid-July, the CIF(to Hong Kong) price of bulk titanium dioxide with the lowest content of 95% from China has risen from $850-950 per ton to $950-1,100; FOB(landed) prices from Australia have also risen from $800-900 per ton to $930-1,020.

Tight supplies of high-end raw materials such as rutile pushed up the premium for titanium dioxide, after all, only a few companies have the technical strength to adopt or switch to other materials. For example, the world's second largest titanium dioxide producer Kronos (Kronos), last year bought 38% of the world's rutile, affected by the current shortage of raw materials, its titanium dioxide delivery is delayed, even as long as 8 weeks.

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