Is The Rising Titanium Dioxide Price Acceptable?

There is no doubt that the titanium dioxide (TiO2) market is booming this year. From the beginning of 2017, global giant manufacturers began to raise prices, so did various China manufacturers. The market demand of Chinese titanium dioxide consistently high. Affected by raw materials as well as on and off production, Chinese titanium dioxide prices keep soaring.

Affected by previous stock and manufacturers' wait-and-see attitude, the price is not at the peak yet. In early March, titanium dioxide prices started to increase. Many enterprises decided to wait-and-see after mid March. On March 24, price increases of Xinli titanium broke the nearly 10 days of price stableness and the second price surge in March began.

Compared to February, TiO2 prices are at least doubled in March. Billions raised their prices twice in March. High titanium dioxide prices and the downstream flat orders went two extremes.

Numerous chemical raw materials show a trend of increasing prices in 2017. The production cost increase gives heavy pressure to downstream buyers. They tend to ponder even longer before making decision about purchasing frequency and quantity. Part of enterprises are still waiting to see the overall market and hope the titanium dioxide prices won’t raise so fast.

At least 10 TiO2 manufacturers announced price increase on March 29, with the reasons of higher costs in raw material, shipping and so on. Pricing Commission of Lomon Billions decided that various models prices of titanium dioxide (including both sulfate and chloride grades) for local market raised one thousand yuan per ton, and prices for international market are increased $100 per ton. This price adjustment applied to wholly-owned and majority-owned subsidiaries as below: Sichuan Lomon Titanium Industry Co., Ltd., Xiangyang Lomon Titanium Industry Limited Company and Henan Billions New Material Co., Ltd. Please Read more!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/rising-titanium-dioxide-price-acceptable.html

Will Titanium Dioxide be Replaced by Silicon Powder?

On March 17, Huntsman announced that they plan to shut down the titanium dioxide (TiO2) production facility in Calais France in the third quarter of 2017.
Titanium dioxide enterprises have raised their prices since 2016. According to analyses, price of titanium dioxide is expected to exceed 20,000 yuan per ton in 2017.
Titanium dioxide is applicable to many areas, such as battery, paint and coating, cosmetic industries. The buyers, especially those in the coating industry, feel quite helpless about the price increase as they have to reduce the margin to survive.

It can not be denied that titanium dioxide plays an important role in paint and coating industry. Pigment grade titanium dioxide has extensive usages as it has high refractive index, strong tinting strength and covering power, good dispersion and whiteness, nontoxicity, stable physical and chemical properties as well as excellent optical and electrical properties.

The use of tio2 can greatly reduce the amount of pigment in the coating and intense the colors in paints. The amount of titanium dioxide accounts for more than 90% of the total pigment used in paints and more than 95% of the white pigment for paints.
Because of the big consumption in the coating industry and increasing TiO2 price, can coating enterprises choose an appropriate product to replace titanium dioxide to save cost, such as silicon micro powder?



Silicon powder has good stability and has played an important role as a paint filler. Characteristics of whiteness, hardness, suspension, dispersion, low absorption rate and high resistivity ensure it increases the corrosion resistance, wear resistance, insulation resistance, high temperature performance of coatings.

Adding silicon powder to flame retardant insulation coating can improve the thixotropic properties of coatings. These coatings could coat evenly without cracks.
Silicon powder from OKCHEM is nontoxic, odorless and low metal content. It does not contain organic substances pollution. This chemical can improve UV resistance of the coating and has good thermal insulation effect.

Silicon powder has features such as short grinding time, strong adhesion and fast drying. It could expand the capacity when used in the processing of mixed paint, primer and rust-proof paint. Besides, it has a significant effect on increasing paint fineness, leveling properties, film hardness, and reducing coating grinding time, water, rust and corrosion-resistant properties, pigment dispersion, storage stability of paints.

Due to the pressure on environmental regulations, upswing price of titanium dioxide and China’s rich quartz resources, silicon powder shows an attractive and broad market prospects. Please read more here for more information!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/will-titanium-dioxide-be-replaced-by-silicon-powder.html

Some Uses of Epoxy Soybean Oil

Epoxidized soyabean oil is a kind of epoxy plasticizers. Its molecular structure contains epoxy groups. It can absorb HCl produced by decomposition of PVC resin and block successive decomposition of PVC in resin processing. At the same time, it captures the free radicals Cl in the degradation of PVC resin and end the free radical reaction of Cl, which stabilizes the active chlorine atoms, slows down degradation speed and prolongs the life of PVC products. The performance is even better if it is used with metal stabilizers.

Epoxy soybean oil is well compatible with PVC and has a plasticization effect on PVC resin. It can be quickly dispersed in the PVC system therefore could be used to reduce the force of PVC polymer and increase the liquidity of the PVC.

What's more, adding a small amount of epoxy soybean oil in PVC molding process could maximize the operating conditions and processing efficiency, improve the surface quality and physical properties of PVC products, decrease energy costs.



ESO has a good heat resistance, light resistance, mutual permeability, low temperature flexibility, low volatility and is toxic-free, so it could be used in a wide range of applications, particularly for plasticizers of food grade and pharmaceutical plastic packaging material. The molecular weight increases when compound ESO with 12 alkyl thiol. If is used with amine or phenolic antioxidant, they can increase synergies, reduce the amount of antioxidants and cut product prices. Adding ESO to lubricant improves its corrosion, fatigue and wear performance.

Epoxidized soybean oil can be developed to various new products, such as propylene glycol ester of epoxidized fatty acid, epoxy soybean oil polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether, hydroxy-epoxidized soybean oil, epoxidized fatty acid esters, etc.
Besides, epoxidized soybean oil is more and more often used in applications like coatings and adhesives, because of its low cost, strong photosensitivity, excellent coated film performance and low viscosity. ESO is also introduced to plastics processing and plasticizer production industries as a nontoxic, plasticized and stable plastics additive. Read more here for ESO!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/uses-epoxidized-soybean-oil.html

Why Use ESO?

ESO is acronym for epoxidized soya bean. It mainly consists of linoleic acid (51%~57%), oleic acid (32%~36%), palmitic acid (2.4%~2.8%), stearic acid (4.4%~4.6%). It is pale yellow oily liquid with a relative density of 0.989. ESO is soluble in alkanes and most organic solvents, but slightly soluble in water.

Because of its good heat resistance, light resistance, inter permeability, low temperature flexibility as well as low volatility, harmless and green, ESO has a wide range of applications and particularly been used as plasticizers in food grade and pharmaceutical plastic packaging.

ESO oil is mostly used in PVC processing. The epoxy groups can capture free radical Cl- separated and degradated from PVC, the degradation of PVC free radical reactions, slow down degradation rate and improve light resistance, heat resistance and oil resistance of PVC products. It has plasticizing effect on PVC, also stablizes the active chlorine atoms in the PVC chain. It can absorb heat and light degradation of HCl quickly, thus blocking continuous decomposition of PVC.

Here are features of ESO:

1. Non-toxic

ESO meets the requirements of U.S. FDA food additive regulations, and obtain recognition of Japan JHPA (PVC food hygiene Association) PL specifications [B.7 (1)] (accreditation number J-7059). It is especially suitable for materials for food packaging and medical use.

2. Low Volatile and Migration Resistance

B-22 and B-22D has about 1000 molecular weight when used as plasticizers in PVC. Its volatile is 1/5 of DOP, but the solvent resistance is far superior to DOP.

3. Excellent Weather Resistance and Heat Resistance

When used with metal stabilizers together in PVC, B-22 has a synergistic effect, which greatly increases weather resistance, heat resistance and transparency of PVC resin, meanwhile, it reduces dosage of valium therefore cuts costs. Click here for more information!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/eso-use.html

Five Reasons for Chinese Titanium Dioxide Price Increase

The price of Chinese titanium dioxide (TiO2) has been raised since Spring Festival. Surprisingly, this raise came much earlier than the regular peak season raise. Chinese TiO2 manufacturers started their production in February, when part downstream factories hadn’t resumed the work after the holiday, many of them had sufficient stock for February and March. Here are five possible reasons for the unexpected price raise.

International Group of Titanium Dioxide Raised Their Prices

An average increase of $200 from large TiO2 groups abroad created profit margins for Chinese manufacturers and exporters. The rough RMB 1000 gap in price and export incentives encouraged Chinese TiO2 export.



Insufficient Production in China

Affected by funding, production costs, strict environmental regulations and other pressures, many Chinese TiO2 plants cut off part of their production lines for cost control. The price has raised as a result of tight supply

Downstream Panic

Some Chinese customers who had small amount inventory expected the price fall after Spring Festival, however the market was the opposite; plus the news of price raise were everywhere, which deepened the market panic, some customers began stock up and pushed the price to a higher level.

Price Increase of Titanium Concentrate

Before Chinese titanium dioxide raise, some titanium concentrate dealers in Panzhihua, a primary concentrate origin in China, had raised the price. Almost all TiO2 manufacturers have procurement offices near Panzhihua, and usually purchase at least six months quantity in advance, in order to ensure the production stability. The price of titanium concentrate was 5,60 yuan per ton (tax excluded) at the beginning of 2016 , now it is at least 1650 yuan per ton (tax excluded). Titanium concentrate price is also soaring in other countries.

Environmental Regulations

At the end of 2016, many titanium dioxide plants in Panzhihua was forced to shut down for environmental compliance. One of them couldn’t open for 3 weeks. Right after the Spring Festival in 2017, the Ministry of Environmental Protection started another round of environmental protection. The environmental regulation will continue to have an impact on chemical industry.

This round of price increase was more a result of these comprehensive factors, in stead of titanium dioxide plants’ unilateral intentions. The market reaction was relatively rational, many traders and end users took measures to control the price increase and ensure smooth transactions. Read more here!
Source:https://www.okchem.com/news/

PU Market News ( March 14th )

Yesterday, the market turnover of MDI market decreased. The average offers were 34,000 - 35,000 yuan per ton; some offers were up to 36,000-37,000 yuan per ton. As supply is still not clear at present, as a result, downstream market is still weak and buyers generally don’t stock up.

Up to now, the price in eastern China is 33,000-37,000 yuan per ton; Southern China is average 33,000-37,000 yuan per ton.

Yesterday, Chinese BDO market was stalemated. Although major manufacturers increased prices and traders followed the raise, the stimulation of the downstream are limited. The downstream market is still soft and asks for lower price, therefore transactions couldn’t be closed easily.

Eastern China market price of BDO is 11,500-12,000 yuan per ton; substantive closing price is about 10,900-11,300 yuan per ton; price of BDO in barrel packing is close to 11,500-12,050 Yuan per ton. Southern China market’s BDO offer is at 11,500-12,200 Yuan per ton; substantive closing price is around 11,000-11,400 Yuan per ton; Barrel packing is near 11,600-12,150 yuan per ton.



Chinese polymeric MDI market performance is weak. So far, Wanhua PM200 is near 25,900-26,000 yuan per ton. In Eastern China, M20S and 5005 is 25,700-26,000 yuan per ton; Wanhua PM200 is 25,900-26,000 yuan per ton. M20S and 44V20 produced in Shanghai is about 25,500-25,800 yuan per ton; Wanhua PM200 is near 25,900-26,000 yuan per ton in northern China; M20S and 44V20 produced in Shanghai is about 25,700-26,000 yuan per ton.

Chinese TDI market was relatively steady yesterday and the prices was not much different from earlier quotes. Latest regional quotes as follows: TDI produced in Shanghai is sold at 32,000-32,500 yuan per ton in the northern area including Shangdong; 32,000-32,300 yuan per ton in eastern China and around 30,500 yuan per ton (tax exclusive) in southern China. Read more here!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/pu-market-news-march-14th.html

Will THAAD Affect Chinese TDI Market

2016 import and export data showed that China imported 60% of TDI from South Korea and 30% from Japan. It is not a surprise that the prices are so volatile, as trans-regional transactions are generally more risky.

Chinese manufacturer controlled supply & buyers increased import
Last year, China TDI market was soft. Since the beginning of 2016, the production equipment malfunctions and reduction of output in China and abroad has led to market shortages. Therefore, last April Chinese customers have relied more on import. However, the market is in the low season, in addition, influenced by rain season in southern area, effects of toxic plastic track and other factors. buyers overall remained significant resistance. Although factory shutdown and other factors boosted the market, it still does not see substantial improvement. Factories had controlled the supply quantity since September, then customers turned to the imported sources.

Limited TDI import




Last year's import and export data showed that China has TDI annual capacity of 840,000 tons in 2016, but the total annual import amount of TDI in 2016 was only 28,200 tons. Therefore, China's total import amount of TDI is still limited, TDI from Korea also has a good upward potential.

Moreover, Chinese TDI export reached 136,000 tons last year, which sharply increased 85.99% compared to those of 2015. Meanwhile, the TDI export amount is far beyond the import.

On the one hand, a great amount of imported TDI is used for OEM and carrying trade. These import TDI benefit from zero import duty and the finished products are rarely sale in China. On the other hand, the transactions of global primary markets are relatively stagnant, in addition, downstream factories have difficulties in maintaining stable operations due to cost pressures. Therefore, the impact of THAAD on Chinese import should be minor.

If you have interest in TDI and would like to explore more details, please follow OKCHEM company page in LinkedIn! Read more here!
Source: https://www.okchem.com/news/