Titanium dioxide is never more than two or three feet away from you at any given time. The ubiquity of its application means that global demand trends run closely with gross world economic product. This should mean that producers can rely on a fairly predictable set of metrics by which to forecast their market. However, the last 10 years have been anything but predictable. We have witnessed the departure of synchronicity between feedstock mining and pigment production, exacerbated by the global financial crisis and the explosion of Chinese capacity, which saw that country turn from a key net importer to an exporting behemoth in a few short years.
Shortages in 2010 and 2011 led to a price spike and super profits before both collapsed under a mountain of inventories in 2012. Buyers today have more choices and enjoy more influence than they have in recent years. But there is a myriad of options on the market. While the world’s high-end producers are finding their once rarefied atmosphere a little thinner these days, buyers are also being duped into paying for worthless pigment.