Titanium Dioxide Hopefully Consolidation Upgrade

The world’s first halo is hard for the entire industry. On the one hand, environmental pressures continue to increase. On the other hand, more than 80% of the enterprises have suffered losses. Most of the planned projects are delayed or put on hold. Because chlorinated products are difficult to form scale to achieve profitability in the short term, based on the ** method of production technology, promote technological innovation, develop a recycling economy, and promote sustainable development of the industry, is the top priority of the Chinese titanium dioxide industry. This is the consensus reached by industry insiders at the 2014 National Titanium Dioxide Industry Annual Conference held on November 5-7.

Environmental protection and market promote integration

Bi Sheng, Director of the Titanium Dioxide Center of the National Chemical Industry Productivity Promotion Center and Secretary General of the Titanium Dioxide Industry Technical Innovation Strategic Alliance, told the China Chemical Daily that with the drastic changes in the market and severe environmental pressure, the industry has been 10 in the past two years. The above micro-titanium dioxide enterprises with no long-term development capacity were shut down, dismantled, or were in semi-discontinued state of production. There were 48 manufacturers and 56 plants in normal operation, which changed the mixed disorderly disorder. .

In the past two years, there have been many large and medium-sized titanium dioxide companies in the industry reporting information related to restructuring. The main reasons are related to the poor economic conditions. Although they are still in progress and have not yet reached a final conclusion, industry consolidation is an inevitable trend. . Bi Sheng said that in the industry consolidation, the most effective means of control is environmental protection and the market.

Current industry-related national environmental protection policies have become increasingly stringent. The new environmental protection law will come into effect on January 1, 2015. Measures for the assessment and assessment of the implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention Action Plan and the Water Pollution Prevention Action Plan will also be introduced soon. In the short term, small and medium sized titanium dioxide production enterprises will be affected. Environmental protection companies that are not up to standard will be ordered to rectify or shut down directly. In the long run, it is beneficial to the overall industry to move toward energy conservation, green environmental protection, and high-tech industries.

Delayed or shelved project progress

According to reports, two to three years ago, there were 28 to 30 new projects for the expansion of industrial companies and the addition of new titanium dioxide projects outside the industry, involving a total capacity of 1.6 million to 1.8 million tons/year, if these projects can be delivered as scheduled. By 2015, production capacity will increase sharply to 4.2 million to 4.4 million tons/year. The reality is that with the exception of a few chlorination projects and a few ** law projects, most of the projects are in a state of slowing or being put on hold, and some have actually been cancelled.

The new projects that were completed in 2013 and released capacity in 2014 are the Ningbo Xinfu, Panzhihua Eastern Titanium, Guangxi Jinmao, Henan Lililian, Guangxi Dahua and China Nuclear Huayuan Gansu Mining Base, under the jurisdiction of Nanjing Titanium. White Xuzhou titanium dioxide chemicals will be completed and put into production by the end of 2014.

Bi Sheng believes that the change in the economic environment is the decisive factor in the change in the status of the titanium dioxide industry. With the acceleration of elimination and lagging behind, changes in the market environment have to a considerable extent inhibited the expansion of production capacity. At present, it is estimated that 80% or more of the companies are at a loss. It is expected that in the next year or two, there will also be some small and medium-sized titanium dioxide enterprises with poor innovation ability gradually fade out.

Overcapacity operating rate is low

Although titanium dioxide is a small industry, its development is closely related to the entire national economic environment. The apparent consumption of titanium dioxide in the mainland of China in 2013 was 1.946 million tons, and the per capita occupancy was 1.45 kg, which was 1.86 times the global average (0.78 kg). If we remove 220,000 tons of pigment-grade products, only the production of pigment-grade titanium dioxide is 1.935 million tons. In 2013, the apparent consumption was 1.725 million tons, 1.29 kilograms per capita, 1.65 times the global average.

In the long run, the consumption growth of titanium dioxide market will be slightly higher than GDP, and it is expected that the average annual growth rate will reach 8% to 10% in the next 3 to 5 years. By 2015-2017, the market consumption will reach 2 million to 2.3 million tons per year (1,946,000 tons in 2013), and periodic fluctuations cannot be ruled out.

In 2013, China's integrated production capacity of titanium dioxide was 2.8 million tons (excluding surface treatment and processing companies). The actual output was 2,155,000 tons, and the capacity utilization rate was 77.0%. In recent years, there have been as many as 30 expansion and new projects announced in various places. Although some of them have been adjusted, delayed or put on hold, a large number of projects will be completed and put into production sooner or later, and the imbalance between supply and demand will become more apparent.

Based on ** method to clean upgrade

Chlorination process is the key development direction of China's titanium dioxide industry, but due to the lack of a core source of technology, it is a matter of years before industrialization and scale are formed. At present, no matter whether foreign technology introduced by various parties or independent technology, this problem has not yet been resolved.

Bi Sheng told the China Chemical News reporter that the use of the form of planning for the chlorination process to set future development goals is a lack of scientific basis, and the encouragement of national policies should be combined with reality. At present, most of the three boiling chlorination projects that have been completed for trial production have encountered many problems in actual debugging. The project under construction is not optimistic. These chlorination projects will have to be completed, put into operation, meet the standards, and reach production. The real marketization and profitability still have a long way to go. Therefore, companies in the industry cannot follow the trend blindly.

At present, the industry is experiencing a low point of development in the industry, and the chlorination process has been hot and cold in the past two years. In the past two years, except for the four projects in Yunnan Xinli, Jinzhou, Luohe, and Lililian, none of the companies have actually initiated the chlorination project. The prospects of the chlorination process will also depend largely on the actualities of the above four projects. running result.

“The ** method is the foundation and fundamental of China’s titanium dioxide industry, and we cannot expect to go to the fore in one step and stand on equal footing with the advanced level in foreign countries. The entire industry must face the reality, down-to-earth, improve the level of clean production and realize product upgrades; adapt to local conditions and form a loop suitable for the company itself. The economic and industrial chain will reduce overall operating costs and realize overall benefits. Bi Sheng stressed.